Page 7 of Sanctuary with a Dragon
I wasn’t sure how it worked, but it seemed like I had more stamina and health as a raven, but, it was ultimately still my body, just in raven form. Which meant that I was still sick, and I still had very limited amounts of energy.
My plan today was to conserve as much energy as possible. I wanted to test riding the thermals higher today to see if I could find favorable winds to keep my momentum going with minimal effort. I wasn’t being lazy, I was being realistic. Raven or not, I couldn’t comfortably keep up this pace. Last night’s sleep deprivation had at least given me time to strategize, and Ifelt like this was a good idea that was at least worth checking out.
I retrieved my ziplock bag from the notch in the tree and took off again. After finding my first thermal, I let it take me as high as the thermal would carry me, the soared for a bit until I found another one, rising into the sky like stair-steps. Once I felt like I was high enough up, I started testing the air currents.
Using this method, and using the air currents to propel me forward, I made good progress. I would ride the air currents until they weren’t favorable anymore, soar for a bit, find another thermal, rise, then start the process all over again.
I’d encountered a few other birds. A peregrine falcon harassed me for a while, almost like it was play fighting, or maybe just being a bully, until I squawked at it in irritation. My squawks, I think, didn’t sound like a raven’s, which scared the crud out of the falcon and sent him fleeing.
I didn’t carewhyhe left, just that he did.
He probably went home to tell his falcon buddies that he’d met an alien.
All day I flew, until I finally reached the foothills of the mountains.
I found a tall, snow-covered pine and rested again, trying to get my bearings. I seemed to have some pretty astounding directional instincts. And I knew they were from the raven portion of myself, because Everly the human was hopeless at directions.
I was exhausted. Really, I’d passed exhausted, and was now in the dangerously weak range of things.
I hadn’t found any food again today, and I’d taken the time to search. I thought there might be some early budding berry bushes, but no such luck. I’d thought all day long about my favorite meals, torturing myself as the miles passed beneath my wings.
Wherever I was going, I just hoped they'd feed me.
On the morningof the fourth day, I finally found the source of the call.
A massive cabin nestled against the snowy mountainside, all rustic logs and wide eaves. From the sky, it looked like a single story—but it sprawled, stretching across the snowy landscape with a winding road leading down to a town nestled in a valley.
And out front, was a man.
He stood near a stump, chopping wood with the kind of precision that only came from doing it daily. He wasenormous—tall and broad with thick, muscular thighs and arms. As a woman, I was above average in height, but standing next to this guy as Everly the human would've made me feel pocket-sized.
His axe lifted and fell in a steady rhythm. A large stack of firewood rested at his feet.
I hovered nervously, watching him. My instincts insisted that the call was coming from him. I turnedback to his house, thinking maybe it was something or someone in there, but quickly looked away again and shook my head.
Nope. It was this guy.
After confirming the call was coming from him, I watched for a while, unable to look away. I didn’t have to question whether he was supernatural—I could feel it in the air around him, a subtle hum that brushed against my feathers like static. Shimmery colors rippled across his body in slow, mesmerizing waves—soft violets and ice-blues glimmering along his skin, while deep, rich reds pulsed beneath, molten and alive, like magma trapped under bedrock.
He was magical.
Definitely.
And yet, I wasn’t afraid of him. I’d been prepared to be afraid—reason dictated that Ishouldbe—but I wasn’t. To me, he felt as solid as the earth, or like the mountains themselves.
However, unafraid didn’t mean I couldn’t be cautious. I landed in the snow a good three feet away from him, giving myself enough space to fly off again quickly, and waited for him to notice me.
When he did, he dropped the axe on his foot. But he didn’t seem to notice the pain as he stared at me. And stared. And stared…
That… wasn’t the reaction I’d been expecting. I was pretty sure he could tell I was a human trapped in bird form. Was he reading my—what, my energy or something?
He fell to his knees, and I hopped back just in case. But he made no move to grab me. He just kept staring. His eyes took on a liquid sheen, and I swallowed.
Oh, man. What was it? Was I like the bird harbinger of doom or something? Was this a curse and not a magical blessing?
He looked stunned. Flattened. Like he’d just heard tidings that completely changed his world.
I scrunched my head into my neck and held very still until he processed whatever he was processing. I was still prepared to bolt if necessary, but I didn’t think I’d need to.
