On the Wings of a Dragon: A Sunset Coven One-shot

This one shot turned out completely different from my original idea. Now I need to write the original one as something different. But before then I'll post the Jime one shot (soon). Anyway, I felt like this (or scenes like this) was needed. Pointless as it has no plot, but carefree. 

This scene takes place three months after Suri joins Jime.

xxxxxxx

“Suri, catch!” 

Jime looked over her shoulder, spun and hail mary’ed the pouch fifty meters to her nieces then sprinted off down the right path. 

Stuttering, Suri caught the pouch. She looked up in time to see Jime disappear around the corner down towards the bayou. She glanced at the pouch, shaking it to determine what was inside. About to open the pouch, the ground began to rumble beneath her feet. A swarm of goblins raced towards her, their high pitch voices squeaking as they charged. 

Suri took a step back.

A small spear flew at her head. 

“Gob-gob-Goblins. Goblins! Tia what did you do?” she yelled, but Jime was long gone. Stumbling backwards. She flicked her wrist, sending the goblins back, but more rushed forward. Following in her aunts footsteps, Suri spun around and ran, taking the left path into the woodlands. No way was she going anywhere near water. Not after all the hours she spent that morning primping her hair. 

Witches weren’t as fast a most supernatural creatures, apparently that included goblins. They gained on her. Dodging low hanging branches and uprooted trees, Suri spelled obstacle after obstacle behind her, slowing and hindering them as much as she could without seriously injuring or killing. 

She didn’t like harming others, especially when it was probably her aunt who started all of this in the first place. Jime was a magnet for destruction and complication and everything Suri wasn’t accustomed to, her life before venturing with her aunt sheltered and routine…with a few out of control university parties her parent’s didn’t need to know about. 

A band of goblins came from her right, knives, torches, and spears waving. She skidded, dashing in the other direction to come up short when more broke through on her left. She truly didn’t want to hurt them, but the goblins didn’t share the same sentiment, planning to torture her in the most gruesome and delicious of ways. She up a signet of deflection, blocking the storm of sharp pointy objects that could not only harm her but kill her. Suri had yet to reach her immortality. 

She could feel it, stood just on the cusps of the beginning, which was far sooner than she expected, the transition into immorality usually beginning in the thirties for witches. It came out of nowhere, that night she found herself dragged into the fighting circle, the beginning of the transformation, like a traffic like it reverse, the red light changing to yellow. But the actual start had yet to happen, and any injury received was life threatening. 

Pivoting, she threw an orb of light to her left, and spun fisting her hand to her mouth. The orb exploded, knocking the goblins close to it out like a light. She blew into her hand, a sheet of ice freezing them in motion. But there were too many of them. They  circled her. She blasted her way through, running towards the horizon. She slide to a halt at the sudden drop, the mountain breaking off into a 40 story drop that spanned three times as wide across.

Ah crap!

Before she even had time to conjure a portal or teleport away, maybe grab a stick off the ground and fly out of danger, a large figure rushed through the crowd and tackled her off the cliff. A scream of surprised ripped from her throat. 

Strong arms latched around her waist, wings as wide as a New York City block beat on her side. Suri twisted in those arms with a good idea who those green, gold, and black wings belonged too, having seen then before. She wasn’t all that surprised to see Toren’s face, but the wings sprouting from the human body was a different story. He grinned that charming, boyish smile from before, her eyes transfixed on his mouth.

Her breath left her for a different reason. 

Had he been this attractive the first time she saw him? Clearly the sunlight was playing tricks on her eyes. He was gorgeous, his dark hair damp and spilling into stunning brown and green eyes, the tank fitting to his chest that was pressed completely to her back where she could feel every muscle like a second skin. She could stare at him all day and would have if he hadn’t smiled again. As dazzling as it was, the only thing she could do in response was to roll her eyes. Boys.

She shook her head, struggling to free one arm. Extending it past his head, she rebounded their weapons, and sent them flying back with a blast of power. 

“Woop!” Suri gasped when Toren suddenly flipped over and let her go. She free fall for a second that felt like a minute before he flew alongside her, his wings tucked tight to his body increasing his speed, as he pulled her onto his back then thrust his wings out mere feet before they hit the canopy, soaring over the forest. 

“Hahahaha.” Laughter spilled from her throat and died a quick death. Six tree sprites rose up from the canopy. Small they may be, but she learned early how sharp those fingers were and they liked to aim for the hair. No one touched Suri’s hair. 

“Level out,” she said to Toren. She gripped his shoulder with one hand, tucking the pouch into the waist of her pants while she pushed herself up. 

Suri stood on Toren’s back holding her left hand palm up, pointed at the sprites. “Birds of a feather flock together.”  The spell hit them mid-flight turning the woodland creatures into baby birdies. 

“Nice!” Toren said. 

“Thanks,” Suri said, slowly lowering herself to sit on his back, leaning forward to lock her arms around his neck to keep herself from falling off. 

“Tell me, Little Witch, why are goblins and Sprites after you?”

She shrugged. “I was out minding my own business, enjoying a quiet sunset, you know. It’s something I haven’t done in three months since I left with my aunt, after weeks of running here and dodging this and tangling with wolves and ghost and mythical creatures I thought didn’t exist and things that go bump in the night, and all I wanted, all I asked for was a bit of solitude. But noooo, she came running around the bend and through this pouch at me without a word before disappearing somewhere in the bayou, and now I have goblins chasing me, and wingy things showing up in midair while I fly on the back of a strange dragon in human form with gigantic wings protruding from its back. And now the sun is going down. Do I sound hysterical? I think I sound hysterical.” 

“No, you sound perfectly fine to me. Didn’t notice the high pitch voice at all,” he said but his tone said otherwise. 

“Ha ha.” 

Toren circled the valley. “Let me see that pouch.” 

Suri handed it to him. 

Toren flipped the pouch over and laughed. He held it up over his shoulder for Suri to read. 

“Tag. You’re it.” She read. “That—“

“Careful. She’s your aunt.”

“Old, dead….”

“Having trouble choosing a word?” Toren asked. “How about decrepit creature?” he suggested. 

“Dried up foogie?”

“Batshit crazy.”

“Mentally insane.”

“Manyeon ahjumma.”

Head cocked to the side, Suri stared at his profile. “I don’t know what that means.” 

“Infested old lady.”

“Ewww,” Suri groaned then laughed. “Yeah…no! Let's not talk about infestations.”

“It has a ring to it,” Toren said. 

“It does.” Suri sighed and rested her chin on his shoulder. “You wouldn’t happen to want that would you?” 

“I already have it, but I know a nice place we can stash it.” 

“Will it get everyone off my back?”

“Hmm, yeah, but it’ll probably be best if you stay on mine for a while.”

“Why?” she asked skeptically. 

“He’s not going to be thrilled.”

“He? He who? I’m not trying to go out of the frying pan into the fire, Dragon.”

But Toren didn’t respond, he flew back over towards the ledge where the goblins were screeching and brandishing their weapons. 

Suri sent a gust of wind towards the goblins.

“Why not use offensive attacks?” Toren asked, curious why she’d rather dodge then wipe out the problem immediately. It should be easy for her, with the magic she possessed and all the spells her father and aunt probably taught her. The vampire couldn’t use magic, but rumors were The Dark Mage’s first training was his sister who’d walked the lands long enough to learn more than what she ought to know.

“Well considering this all just happened to be a game, wish someone would have just said that from the beginning,” she mumbled, “hurting them seems unfair. That’s no fun.”

“Doesn’t seem like anyone else cares about fair,” he said. “Hang on. It’s about to get a bit dizzy.” He pinwheeled to the right, his speed increasing exponentially, and flung the pouch deep into the bayou, stopping upside-down. He whistled twice, the sound vibrating in the sky, spreading far.

“Wooo,” Suri said, holding on for dear life. “You drop me dragon and I’ll turn you into a gecko. A tiny little gecko.” 

“Will I get to sell car insurance?” He turned around and flew hastily across the valley deep, deep into the woodlands. 

“Shut up.” She looked over her shoulder, trying to find where the pouch landed. “Where is it?” 

“There’s another circle tonight down in the bayou. I threw it to River. He hates this game.”

And now she knew why he was flying so fast. “Which means you must amscray before he finds you…with me wrapped around you.” She paused. “Don’t even go there.” 

“I didn’t say anything,” he replied innocently. 

They flew in silence, swooping in and out of the forest, the leaves rustling softly against her legs, trailing his wings low in the marsh water the spray dizzying cool water on them, then soaring high into the sky, sweeping in and out of clouds.

“I always thought the clouds would taste like marshmallows or a bowl of whipped cream.”

Toren snickered. “What are you three?”

“I was once upon a time.”

“As were we all.” He flew higher. “What does it taste like to you?”

“Pollution.”  

He choked out a laugh. “Really?”

“No. Taste like water,” Suri replied. “You know, if you go much higher we’ll be in space, and I’m not sure about you but I’ve never trained to be an astronaut.”

“You know,” he threw her own words back at her, “you are too cute.”

Suri was glad she was on his back and he couldn’t see her cheeks flame like a school girl’s. 

“Look,” he pointed west. “You can watch the sunset from this high.” 

A swirl of reds and oranges that faded to gold, over green woodlands and beauty bayou trees. It was glorious and so worth the chase. And although the setting sun signified the ending of the day, it signaled the beginning of a new road for Suri. 

The transition had begun.