The footsteps stopped before they reached him, and Lionel waited, straining his ears past the woosh of air and the drip-drip of distant water, but it was otherwise quiet. Still, he waited.
He resisted tapping his foot.
Had the person retreated? Was it a scavenger or a bot that had finished a job? Could it have been just his imagination?
He was practically vibrating like an elastic pulled tightly. After hunting with Aura, the remaining adrenaline made staying still feel impossible. He couldn’t wait any longer, he peered around the bend.
The first thing he noticed was the high-resistant shield wrapping around the figure like a shimmering cocoon. He knew immediately that none of his blades was strong enough to pierce it, he’d be on the defensive before he even made a move. Thankfully the second thing he noticed was Rylan’s cloak, its rich purple making him easy to distinguish in the bleak tunnels.
“What are you doing down here with a shield like that?” Lionel said incredulously.
Rylan smirked, “I need it in the rare case that a madman approaches holding a dagger while soaked in blood.”
Lionel checked his splattered red shirt, with a few questionable lumps of stirges’ insides clinging to his clothes.
The moment stretched, and for a heartbeat too long, neither lowered their positions, remaining in a stand-off. Lionel had never paid attention to Rylan, strong build, the confident fighting stance, and his disconcerting assessing look.
Rylan pressed a command at his wrist and the shield retracted.
“I followed you.” He shrugged.
Lionel tucked his dagger away too and relaxed his posture suddenly feeling foolish. This was his best friend he was thinking about.
“Why?”
“Why?” the disbelief was evident in his tone of voice, “maybe because you were acting strange and then you disappeared somewhere. And when I do finally see you, you’re dropping into the tunnels - solo!”
Lionel sensed he was about to receive a lecture.
“And I thought to myself - no, Lionel wouldn’t be that stupid. He knows that everyone has been off ship for at least two weeks so any lairs in the tunnels are completely over-run.”
“Ahh that’s why it was so bad.”
“Ahh that’s why it’s so bad,” Rylan mimicked. “Tackling an infestation solo! I’m not even sure how you’re standing. If you needed the credits that badly you could have always come to me.”
“It’s not about credits.” Lionel didn’t want to lie to him but Rylan was blocking his exit.
“Are you in some sort of trouble?”
Yes. No. How was he even meant to explain without endangering him? But this was Rylan! He sighed.
“Did you ever think about our relationship with dragons?”
“Over the last week it's been almost all I’ve thought about. Most of The Dump has just become rich!”
“No. I don’t mean their monetary value. What if we could befriend them, work with them?”
“You mean the world-ending, fire-breathing monstrosities that rain hellfire? You think we should befriend them?
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“Well not with that attitude.” Lionel said. He sensed Auru’s rising anger as she reacted to their conversation.
“You’re serious.” Ryaln’s mouth twisted. “The odds of it happening are astronomically against us.”
“I’d take that bet.”
Aura was creeping closer, unable to resist her rising curiosity.
“One credit says I could do it.” Lionel smirked.
“One credit? Ha! Why not a million credits since we’ll never know the answer?”
Aura dropped her camouflage, appearing behind Lionel, her claws digging into the grated wall.
“Shit! Lionel get behind me.”
Rylan’s shield released, immediately encasing him in a protective sphere.
For a moment, Lionel could barely breathe. He was doubled over with laughter, until he saw the blade flash in Rylan’s hand.
He jumped between them his hands held up.
“Woah! Woah! Careful.”
Rylan grabbed Lionel’s shirt pulling him forward as Aura disappeared. Lionel could feel her camouflage fatiguing. She wouldn’t be able to stay hidden for long.
“Lionel. Am I losing my mind? That was a dragon.” He twisted his head side to side searching her out. “How much blood loss did you suffer? Will you get behind my shield? It will maybe give us enough time to escape from that abomination.”
“Her name is Aura.”
“Great so it will buy us enough time to escape Aura. The planet might need to evacuate. She not fully grown but the empire -
He trailed off.
“Aura? Why would you name her?”
Ryla had slowly been edging them lower to the exit but he suddenly stopped.
“Promise to hear me out okay?”
“Seriously Lionel.” Rylan interrupted in a tone he usually reserved for when the youngest children misbehaved. “You can’t just name these monsters. They’re not pets.”
“I know. But I found her. Searcher found her egg, hidden almost at the end of our solar system and she hatched. It’s amazing. She could be amazing - is amazing! Just trust me for a moment, okay.”
His words were tumbling over one another in his excitement and while Rylan gave him a look of concern he did slightly lower his weapon.
Aura reappeared at Lione’s side and licked his hand.
“Incredible.” Rylan whispered. He reached out his hand but Aura gave a warning rumble that echoed down the tunnels reverberating threateningly. Rylan jumped back, stumbling against the curved wall.
“She’s not ready for other humans to touch her.”
Rylan’s eyes went wide, “you can understand her?”
Lionel nodded, grinning. “Dragon Rider perk I guess.”
“What’s your plan here? You can’t hide a dragon at The Dump.”
“I’m going off ship, we’ll probably live wild for a while. Hunting, staying away from others.”
“Is Rover really built for that? Don’t get me wrong it’s a great ship but you don’t exactly have the right supplies, there’s not even a good space suit if I remember correctly and dragon rider doesn’t exactly sound like you’ll be sitting on deck?”
Lione grimaced. “I’ll work that out as we go. There are places other than The Dump to buy supplies.”
“And pay triple the cost.”
“Or scavenge.”
“As a team of one? It’s not going to be easy to survive out there, even with a dragon companion.” He bent his head in reverence to Aura.
“I can make it work.” It was unpleasant to hear Rylan voice all his own concerns that rattled around his head.
“But what if I could help?”
“I’m not taking your money.”
“No nothing like that.” Rylan shook his head dismissively, waving his hand. “But there’s a ship with some incredible space suits that are up for grabs.”
“Theft?” Lione narrowed his eyes, taking a step back, this wasn’t how Rylan usually talked.
“More an official consequence of bad behavior.”
Lionel’s interface beeped interrupting them and he heard Harriet’s voice in his ear.
An alert has been detected for an unusual creature detected in the Sky Savannah. There are a few notifications describing a drake or a wyvern but no mention of Rover yet. It may only be a matter of time.
“Not good” Lionel said explaining the situation to Rylan.
“Survive today to fight tomorrow.” He clapped Lionel on the shoulder. “It’s going to takemore than a space suit to survive, you need to find out everything you can about dragon riders and your interface upgrades. You’re not the only one to receive an upgrade through history.”
That was news to Lionel. Lionel thought he was the one bringing surprises but everything Rylan said seemed to introduce more questions. Is that how Rylan always knew what was going to happen in advance?
“You need to go to Livrarh.” Rylan continued, pausing to check Lionel understood.
Livrarh was an ice giant, home to one of the the largest cities for knowledge keepers and famous for their diamond exports.
“You want me to visit the library?”
“Why not? You’ll be able to research and the ice forests provide plenty of nearby hunting grounds, and places to hide Aura.”
It did sound perfect.
“But first that suit.”
Lionel hesitated.
“I’ll even treat Aura to a steak as an apology for my previous ignorance about dragons.”
Aura nudged Lionel so suddenly she almost knocked him over.
“Come on. What’s one more day on The Dump?”
Lionel nodded slowly. Aura was pestering him about what steak tasted like and he didn’t want to be the reason for her disappointment.
