Directions

Morning rolled around fairly quickly for me. Everyone but Sheldon was awake and we all did our best to let her sleep. Guy left behind a bag for me so now I'm able to carry more items. He even left a water jug that I thoroughly scrubbed since I was not drinking after him. 

Olive offered me the small rat she was able to catch and I politely turned the offer down. I found a bush full of berries Sheldon told me where fine so I spent the morning picking those. Til a spurt of water hits my hands knocking all the berries to the ground. Shaking the water from my hand and then rubbing the pain away I look at the culprit.

"What was that for Sheldon?" I demand an answer.

"Those are the ones that poisoned you. That's they I left them." Sheldon explains.

"Oh." I say taking a step back from them.

"Once a week won't kill you but daily like you were about did you in." Sheldon adds with a stretch. "So whats today's plan?"

"We put off finding the eternal fire dragon for as long as possible." I state.

"I know its not favorable and I too want to live but my parents respected people of Guy's demeanor." Sheldon said. "So we might have a decent chance with this. As in we, that will be you and Pearl taking the lead on this one. Only since Guy was specificly talking to you about everything."

"Sure!" Pearl bursts out of no where tackling Sheldon again.

"Could you sto-" Sheldon is cut off with a claw to the face. "Woo uuu stttaapp?"

"Never! My granny knew the eternal fire dragon well." She drops her voice down to a whisper. "I have a theory fire boy had the hots for my granny when she was in her prime." Pearl nods at her deductions.

"Riiiight." I reply not wanting to know that about old dragons. "I say we put off finding him."

"I'm sure he is a nice fella. Maybe lonely, what if he is lonely because his fire is too hot for anyone to talk to him." Pearl starts to theorize.

"I volunteer to keep the camp safe." Sheldon says.

She bails on me!

"That's a great idea! We can all pitch in and then the job will be easier." Pearl is excited.

A large boom goes off in the distance behind me. Smoke, debris and flame can be seem from four mountain peeks down.

"Let me guess. That was him?" I ask reluctantly.

"Yup! It's gotta be him!" Pearl is excited as per normal. Now she is hanging off my shoulder with a big smile.

"Greeeaaaat." Sheldon sarcastically says getting up from the dirt.

We all stare up at the smoking mountain top.

"Lets get a move on!" Pearl shouts, leaping from my shoulder and starts grabbing clouds flying in the direction of the fire.

With the now leaf-less glory stick in hand, the rest of us follow with less enthusiasm.

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A day of travel has past. Dre helped carry me part way since I was still not fully recovered. I did my best to walk when I notice signs of fatigue coming from him. He isn't fully grown yet according to Sheldon. Olive and Sheldon spent as much time in the rivers and waterways as possible since they move faster in them. Pearl often took breaks on Dre's head or my shoulder.

We did end up covering a lot of ground since Dre moves a lot faster than I can. The others even seemed bored at my walking pace.

I look up at the smoking mountain thats even closer now. "Lets set up camp here." I say at a decent clearing by the river.

"Works for me!" Pearl says. "What jobs are we doing?" She looks to me with sparkling eyes.

"Oh um." I look around at the group. "Sheldon and Olive can get food, Dre and Pearl can get wood while I work on getting a fire going. If thats alright with everyone?"

They all nod then disperse to their jobs. While working on the fire I keep looking up at the smoking mountain dreading going up there. 

Guy made it sound like we need the eternal fire dragon if we are to win this fight. If this dragon really is on par with Tundra then maybe with the rest of us fighting too, it will tip the scales in our favor. Plus if this fire guy had the hots for her granny we will have a way to just talk to him. Unless she left on bad terms and we just waltz in to rip that wound completely open again. How can we get out of this?

Rustling behind me brings me out of my spiraling thoughts. Dre and Pearl must be back from gathering wood. Turning I see it's not either of them. There lays a long dark green serpent with legs. It had horns and a dragon like face. The dragon is smaller than the one I saw on the first mountain when I started my journey. I freeze and without realizing it I hold my breath. Sometime passes and we just stare at each other. Eventually it puts it's head down and closes its eyes. 

I debate on running away or staying for a very long while. The dragon just rests the whole time. I eventually decide to just stay since the others will be back any moment.

"And that's why when making friends you should always be honest." I hear Pearl's voice coming through some trees.

I briefly turn to see if I can see her. Then I heard the scrambling coming from the green dragon. I bolt to my feet grabbing glory stick and stumble away from the dragon. All I see is it's tail disappearing into the dark brush.

"Hi Ragon! We-" Pearl stops mid sentence when she sees my elevated breathing. She looks into the forest with me then in a whisper. "What's going on?"

"It was long, green, I think it was a dragon. I-it didn't have wings though." I'm still in shock.

"Sounds almost like a forest dragon." Sheldon says coming out of the river with Olive. Sheldon flops a large fish on the river bank and Olive has a mouthful of little ones.

Pearl is sniffing around the bushes. Dre drops the tree he found onto the fire. Sparks fly up into the air as the kindling falls.

"Lets have a rotating shift to keep watch tonight." I say to the rest. "I can take the first watch."

"Not a bad idea." Sheldon says dragging her fish to the fire.

"I call second shift!" Pearl calls out rejoining the group.

"Works for me." Sheldon says curling up by the fire. "I had my fill in the water. That fish is for who ever."

"Thank you Sheldon." I say.

"I found some grasses that tasted good." Says Dre. "So I'm full too."

"I'm not too hungry either. I snacked well while in the river today." Olive says.

Am I actually going to be full tonight when I go to sleep?

"Don't mind if I do!" Pearl squeals then dives into eating away at the big fish.

"Hey leave me some!" I shout trying to pull her off. We squabble for a bit and end up splitting the fish in half. Not sure how she was able to eat all of her half but she did.

Everyone eventually drifts to sleep while I take the first watch. It's quiet and peaceful out here. I never knew there could be so many stars in the sky either. The log Dre brought falls when it breaks into two so I move it to keep the fire in one place.

I eventually can't keep my eyes open. Getting up I make my way over to Pearl. I start with gentle nudges that eventually turn into violent shakes.

"Pearl wake up!" I loudly whisper. Pearl rolls falling off of Dre's stomach. 

"I'm awake!" Pearl says with eyes half closed. She yawns and smacks her mouth a few times.

"I need sleep." I say curling up by the freshly built fire.

"You get your sleep." Pearl says sleepily.

I drift to sleep effortlessly.

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I wake to the sound of scratching.

I slowly open my eyes and see that same forest dragon from earlier covering our fire with dirt. Without moving my head I try to see if Glory stick is close enough to reach. Sadly I had rolled so its behind me now.

I take a deep breath and roll back to grab the stick. Springing to my feet I'm ready. Again the dragon slips into the dark forest. Sheldon wakes up from the commotion.

"What's happening?" She asks.

"That dragon came back." I said.

"Just to cover our fire up? Why didn't you wake us up." Asks Sheldon.

I look over to Pearl sleeping on Dre's stomach. Sheldon puts two and two together and blasts Pearl with a jet of water.