The men seemed to hesitate, one of them chuckling darkly. “ okay kid, don’t get your self killed..” he said and walked backwards, opening a hole for her. Inside the circle was hiro, trying to pull himself out of the trap and yelling for every time he failed. Finally he laid down, dizzy and nauseous from the blood loss he accepted his fate and wished one would finish him off already.
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The girl swallowed loudly. "O-oi!" she yelled "What the …" she stammered some nonsense for a couple of seconds before approaching cautiously. "Um … wow. I've never seen such an animal. What do you want to do with him?" She cautiously touched the ends of the trap, quickly withdrawing her hand. "He is suffering"
“ young one, that would be what you call a dragon. And by his size I’d say he’s royalty. That means if we harvest his blood we could make a couple million. “ he paused when she had said he was suffering “ not a soul but yours seems to care. I’m surprised he didn’t snap at you for being that close.”
Hiro noticed the girl through hazy vision, her hand was close to the trap, hoping she’d take him out of it he seemed to find some strength for survival. And then she pulled her hand away, what was she doing? He needed out of this trap, and for some reason every instinct was telling him he needed to stay by her side.
"A couple of million? Wow, that's a lot. Listen, free him. It's full of animals around here, get another one."
"What the hell am I doing?" thought Ruby "Why do I care so much?" She looked at the trap again and met the dragon's aching gaze once more. "Ah yes, that's why"
The black-haired girl approached the trap again and calmed down when she saw that the animal was not going to attack her. Keeping the knife in plain sight she attempted to push the hunters away in order to free the dragon. "Listen, can I do something to convince you to let him go? I don't really want to start a fight, but I could do it if it were really necessary … but if you have another idea, I'll be happy to listen to it"
"We just have to finish it quickly" she thought.
One of the hunters scoffed, apparently understanding her reasoning. Walking away, they left the girl with the dying dragon.
Hiro looked up to the woman, having seen the gaze in her eyes. He couldn’t understand English, as his native language was draconian. His eyes shifted from the knife to her. Unsure if she was going to hurt the men behind her or him.
Ruby smiled, happy "You made the right choice, man"
She began to break the trap, partly with the knife and partly with her hands, but the feat turned out to be more difficult than expected. "What is it made of?" she asked as she wiped the sweat from her brow. She went on and finally, after about 10 minutes she finally broke through the trap and sat down on the ground, giving the dragon room to pass.
"Ok bud, you can go now. Do you have, um, someone who can cure you? You're not in very good shape… wait… you don't understand my language, do you? Uff, what can I do?"
“ well ma’am… since you decided to be a hero, he now owes his life to you. Dragon law. He won’t leave your side till he dies.” The man said, turning to leave.
Hiro got up on unsteady legs, going over to her he set his head in her lap. Wether it was a purr or a low growl that he had put off was hard to tell, but it seemed he would be going anywhere for a while.
"Uh, really? Sounds interesting …" she smiled slightly as the dragon rested his head on her lap. She touched it gently, as if he were a cat. "Do you have a name? Could you find a way to tell me?"
The dragon sighed, writing in the dirt he spelled his name out ( hiro) his eyes stayed on the name for a minute, wishing he could find a way back to the castle.
"Mine is Ruby. Look, I guess those asshole hurt you. If you want you can come to my house, maybe I can make you feel better. Do whatever you like." To be sure she wrote in the dirt what she had just said, even though she didn't know if it was useful or not.
Hiro looked as if he understood, ready to try and follow her. He got up, and mumbled his key-word for the transfer. “ shift” and once again the dragon was man. His hair was pearly white and his eyes a forget-me- not blue. His white shirt and black tunic both bore the dragon insignia.
"Wow. I didn't think you could do… this. Cool. Let's go then." Ruby started walking, motioning for Hiro to follow her. "Would you like to tell me a little about you while we walk?"
In the best English he could muster hiro spoke. “ I am hiro. “ he paused seeming to search for the right words. “ lost…”
"Lost? Let me think … maybe, if you can tell me (even approximately) where you live, I can take you home"
Hiro nodded and point due north, to the mountains. He looked back at the woman only hoping she understood. In the distance had been a loud crack of thunder. Hiro now knew his father was upset about him not being home.
"In that direction, huh? Perfect then, we better get goin-" She broke off when she heard the thunder. She walked over to Hiro and looked his eyes. "Maybe it's better to wait, I think a storm is about to arrive. However you decide. Do you prefer to leave or stay at home until the good weather returns?"
He shrugged. Moving to follow her, he tried to removed some of the words she used. Hoping to make English a second hand language instead of something he had just picked up. Every human seemed to speak it and he could only speak draconian.
"Well, let's go home then. When we get there you can do whatever you want because I live by myself. In fact, I have an idea: would you like me to teach you some English? At least a few words, so it will be easier understand each other "
Hiro nodded. Following her to the house he kept a close eye on certain people, not wanting to get put back in a trap by hunters. He wondered if the woman knew anything about dragons or is she could help bandage his wound from the last trap.
"Very well. Now we're almost there, just a little while" Ruby played with the knife the whole time. It was something she did often and the numerous cuts on her fingers never stopped her. Also, if anyone attacked her, she would be ready to defend herself.
When she reached her house she quickly opened the door and pushed Hiro inside. "Okay, here we are. Home sweet home." She walked over to the bathroom and got all kinds of bandages, plasters and medicine she had. She didn't know exactly what Hiro needed, but she hoped at least one of those things would be useful. "Can I help you or do you prefer to do it yourself?"
He held out his arm curious on how humans did medical treatment. As he waited for her he looked around the house, it was more…modern than usual dragon dens but he didn’t see anything that suggested she was a hunter herself. Only when she moved to get bandage did he see the cut on her own hand.
"Ok". The girl nodded and gently took Hiro's hand. She put some disinfectant on a piece of cotton and prepared the bandages. "It's cold and it might burn a little. I hope it doesn't hurt too much." She passed the disinfectant over his hand and muttered a song in the meantime. Then she stopped. "Does it hurt?" Ruby asked.
Hiro looked back at her and shook his head. It actually didn’t sting too much, but he figured his scaly skin was to blame for most of it.
The black-haired girl nodded, then began to bandage his wound. "Ok, finished. Do you need anything else?"
He shook his head no, now looking to her as if she had forgotten something. He waited patiently until she would start teaching him English