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Chapter 4

'Chris, wake up.' Talek thought, tugging at his mind.

The boy in his early teens just shifted in his sleep against his dragon's flank.

'Wake up.' He thought again. He poked him in the chest with his muzzle, but still got no response. 'Wake up!' He thought one last time. With a somewhat light kick he quite literally knocked Chris awake, frantically looking around for danger.

"What is it?" He asked, confused.

'My dreams scare me.' The dragon thought, much like a young child.

Chris started to rub the underside of Talek's neck where he was more sensitive through his thick, tough scales. "Well, I'll always be here for you." He said with affection.

The feeling caused him to purr in his own draconic way. 'As will I.'

They were inside one of the many smooth, finely crafted houses that made up the residential part of Cilrev. In front them, a fire was burning warm and brightly.

Beneath them, a carpet covered most of the floor. A table and chairs were set in one of the corners, while in another, a collection of cabinets and shelves holding everything that could be needed, from old intriguing books to simple silverware. A staircase led to a second floor, where Dave, Annie, and their Elven guide, Nyolnen, slept.

They had stayed in Cilrev for a few days now, and Annie's mood hadn't improved the slightest. Dave on the other hand had remained his usual cheery self the whole time. The only change made was of their clothes, going from the clothes they wore when they arrived to clothes that were made for purpose rather than for look, being thick and full of pockets that were placed wherever they could be stitched in.

Nyolnen had spent the whole first day lecturing Chris on how he should take care of Talek, reading from a book which supposedly explained everything Chris would have to know. He would have to go around with Talek everywhere, and help him whenever he was asked. At first it seemed to Chris like it would be a pain to have to do, and it was, but there was a part in the back of Chris' mind that felt like this was natural, and it confused him.

The book also explained a good deal about dragons themselves, though Chris only heard a small part of it before Nyolnen skipped that entire section of the book. Another secret he would have to find out about.

Other than that, not much had happened since they arrived. Unlike in the human village, Talek had come with them, and caught several interested glances from anyone who passed by. Soon after, Nyolnen invited them to stay in his own home for the time being. Where they were going next, Talek kept secret.

'Dave is coming downstairs.' Talek reported.

Indeed he was, and before Chris could look over he had already gotten to the bottom.

"Hey Chris, good morning Talek." Dave said, giving the dragon a quick, respectful nod like Nyolnen had told him to do.

"Morning." Chris answered.

Dave ran over to lie down next to Chris. "You know, I still haven't gotten over how incredible this is." He said as he settled down.

"How do you think I feel?" Chris gave Talek a pat on his shoulder.

"Well, yeah, you have a dragon as a best friend now. It's hard to top that."

'I am happy to know you think so.' Talek chimed in, causing Dave's eyes to widen at his mind being breached.

"That too, every time I hear his voice in my head, my heart stops for a moment, it's scary."

"Well, I find it comforting to always have someone to talk to." Chris said, using both hands now to pet the dragon.

"Hey could I pet him a bit?" Dave asked, quite clearly eager to do so.

"Sure, why not? Talek certainly won't object."

And he didn't. As soon as Dave offered, he rolled onto his side, exposing more sensitive scales on his stomach.

Dave started to do so right away, grinning at how much Talek enjoyed it.

But suddenly, more footsteps sounded and the two stopped their petting instantly, much to Talek's annoyance.

"What are you two morons doing?" Annie asked as she hurried down the stairs.

"Just talking." Dave answered quickly.

"To Chris and his dragon, just like always. It's all you do now."

"Under the circumstances, I'm surprised that you don't." Chris pointed out.

"That's because I have better things to do than pet him all the time."

"Like what?"

"Studying this place instead of lying around like you two do all day."

"How? Chris and Talek are the only people who understand Relnisk, and they don't even use that language here."

"I'll find a way if it means getting away from you two!" On that note, she ran to the door and left before anyone could think of something more to say.

Once the door closed behind her, Dave's face broke out into a grin once again. "You know, I think I've figured out what she's so upset about."

"What?"

He gave Talek a pat on his stomach. "How could I not have seen this before? She's jealous of course!"

Chris had to think about that for a moment, running and testing the thought in his mind.

"To be honest, I'm pretty jealous too."

"Well, Talek's always happy to be pet by anyone."

"That's a fact." Dave laughed.

'I'm hungry.' Talek announced, rising and letting the two boys fall back.

"Great, now I've gotta watch him hunt, you wanna go with me?" Chris asked, getting up as well.

"Sorry, massive gore fests aren't my thing." He answered, now lying down.

He rolled his eyes. "Gee thanks for supporting me through this."

"Isn't that Talek's job?" Dave grinned.

"Well, yeah, but that's beside the point, I don't want to go on my own, well, not including Talek since he's the one killing."

"Sorry, I just really don't fancy seeing an animal torn to pieces in front of me."

"Fine...wimp..." Chris muttered as he led his dragon to the door.

Outside was one of the many , many roads leading around Cilrev. From above it would look like a giant spiderweb if the great tree in the center was not in the way. The elves who all lived in this one city were constantly using and wearing down the roads till they depressed into the ground. It was very rare to not be able to see anyone while the sun was still up, and today was certainly no exception.

Through the crowd Chris led Talek to the edge of Cilrev, getting several respectful glances from some of those he passed. They didn't stop at the edge, proceeding to venture through the rough floor of the forest.

This wasn't the first time Chris watched Talek hunt. The first time was shortly after they arrived at Cilrev. On Talek's insistence, and Nyolnen's demand, Chris had gone off with him into the forest only to return pallid with a horrid image forever seared deep into the epicenter his mind where it would remain for all eternity.

In only a few days he had become much more used to it like the several other tasks he had to tire himself with now. He even began to enjoy the excitement and the adrenaline rush that that passed through the link he and Talek shared.

As the two walked farther away from Cilrev, Chris began to notice the small forest creatures roaming in the trees above them.

He hadn't known where to look for them before a few days ago, but once he started seeing them, they showed up everywhere. Mostly it was quick squirrels, loud birds, and the occasional deer which Talek was most likely searching carefully for now. However, they all seemed different from the animals he was familiar with back at home. Mostly there were minor body proportions, but there were some other distinct features too, and every now and then Chris would spot an animal which he couldn't relate anything to at all.

It took a good half hour before Talek found what he wanted to hunt, and he was the first to see it.

'Stop.' The dragon thought abruptly, stopping like he had been frozen in place.

Chris would have bumped right into him had he not been warned. He looked ahead to see a couple deer, chewing on the grass that made it's way through the forest carpet of leaves, unaware of the danger that stood a mere fifteen meters away.

Chris stayed back and watched as Talek began to creep closer to the pair as quietly and swiftly as water. He could feel his heart beating away, already it had begin to quicken, and in his anxiety he started to hold on tightly to one of the bushes, picking off the leaves one by one.

Suddenly the deer looked up. There was a brief pause where everything was at a complete standstill, and not a move or sound was made, leaving them in hollow silence. But the pause was shattered as the deer darted off, and Talek gave pursuit.

Chris had to run as fast as his poor legs could take him as he chased after the dragon, struggling greatly to keep him within view. But luckily he did not have to run for too long, for the chase soon began to bore the dragon. He pounced, landing cleanly on one of the deer's backs, snapping it's spine in half as if it were simply a mere pretzel stick.

Chris caught up to find him tearing at the deer's hide, revealing the bloody muscle and organs underneath. He was much less eager to watch this process, and simply turned away quite gentlemanlike and waited for him to eat his fill. Once he finished, thre was barely a trace of the deer left, and his muzzle was completely stained red with it's blood.

"You ready to head back?" Chris asked nicely.

'Yes, I am. That was a good meal.'

"I'm sure it was. You took longer than usual to kill it though."

They started to walk back. 'The chase is fun. It makes the meal feel like it was well earned.'

"If you say so. You would know."

Before going back, they stopped by one of the rivers that would eventually flow into Cilrev's base.

Knowing the routine, Talek ran to the water and waded into the deeper part where only his head poked out through the surface.

Chris rolled up his pants and began to make his way towards the young splashing dragon. "Hey, come on. Come here so I can get the blood off you."

The dragon paddled over, soaking the boy's clothes with all the water being kicked up. But he didn't mind getting wet, and smiled at the sight of the playing dragon as he took a ragged old cloth out of his pocket.

Talek held still obediently in front of him as he got to work scrubbing the blood off of his muzzle. It was tough work, getting off the blood that over only a little time had begun to crust.

'If you rub any harder, you'll bleach my scales!' Talek complained.

"Hey, I don't want to do this either, but you know that Nyolnen won't stop bugging me about how important it is to always wash you off after you eat." He answered, doing a mock impression of the elf's serious tone.

It took over half an hour for Chris to wash him to the point that Nyolnen would call "acceptable".

He gave a final powerful brush. "Done!"

'Good, I'm tired.'

"Eat, drink, sleep, that's all you ever do."

'I talk to you too.'

Chris just smiled at that as he made his way away from the cold river water with Talek happily trotted behind him.

He looked over and saw that Talek had already gotten his paws quite dirty. "Let's hope that you dry off, the leaves are all sticking to your paws."

'I do not mind.'

"Yeah, but everyone else does. You'll get mud on everything like that."

'I do not understand.'

"Understand what?"

'Why you like to live in a place that can be so easily destroyed. A cave near food and water is all I need.'

Chris gave the dragon's head a good pat. "And for us to be together, don't forget."

'Of course.' He answered happily.

When they got back to Cilrev, there were even more people up and about than before.

Carefully, Chris led Talek back to Nyolnen's home, nearly tripping others with his tail more than once.

At the door, he had to take out the rag once again and get to work rubbing the dirt and dust off Talek's paws, earning a few odd and a couple affectionate looks from other people.

"Okay, we're good." Chris said, putting down Talek's hind leg after getting a particularly persistent spot. He opened the door for the dragon to run inside and lie by the fire once again.

"Oh, hey Chris." Dave said, looking up from a book he was looking at the table.

"Since when did you learn to read elven? Or even like reading for that matter?" Chris questioned as he quickly closed the door behind him.

"I didn't, for either. I'm just looking at the pictures, some of them are really cool."

"Really? Let me see." He ran over to look at the book. While most of it was written text, there were quite a few illustrations as well. Even though they seemed that they were for educational purposes, they were all extremely well drawn, depicting old historical moments, or describing old artifacts which make little sense with a lack of information.

While the two boys talked and marveled over the pictures, Nyolnen came downstairs to go about his duties.

"Good morning Talek, I trust that you feel well today?" The elf greeted the dragon courteously.

'I am, though I have some meat caught in my teeth.' He informed.

The elf turned to face the boys. "Chris! Come over here!" He demanded.

Not daring to disobey he got up from the table and walked over without a word.

"What have I been telling you to always do when taking care of Talek?" The elf jumped to the question.

"I...I don't remember."

"Never forget to ask what he needs! You should be able to remember that by now."

"I'm sorry sir."

"You know that since I do not know much about taking care of dragons other than from what I read, so this is the best advice I can give you."

"Yes, I will remember next time."

"No, you will remember now. Talek needs help. I'll leave you to figure out what it is with." With that, the elf left for the door without another word.

"What was that about?" Dave asked, still at the table.

"The usual. I'm not taking good enough care of Talek, you know."

"So what do we do now?" He asked, already bored with the book.

For a brief moment, Chris was silent as he silently conferred with Talek. "Well, it looks like I'm stuck with the task of clearing Talek's teeth."

Dave grinned as he imagined the amusing thought of Chris attempting that. "How are you going to do that?"

"That's what I'm wondering, do you see anything I can use?"

"Nothing that won't be ruined, you're on your own." He said, his grin widening.

Chris just rolled his eyes at seeing this and walked over to lie by Talek. "All right, let me see it."

The dragon did so for him, letting him look in, only able to see anything because of the fire next to them. In the back of his mouth he spotted it, a large scrap of meat neatly wedged between the sharp spikes that were his teeth.

Reaching over, and having to deal with the dragon's rank and humid breath, he grabbed hold of the scrap and gave it a good tug as he dig his nails in so he wouldn't loose his grip. Yet the scrap didn't so much as budge in the slightest, and the way it had gotten stuck, it would be even harder to try pushing it up.

"Hold on." He said, leaning back to pull harder. Steadily he applied more and more of his weight, and finally, once he was practically holding himself up only with his grip on the scrap, it came loose, making Chris fall over, hitting his head hard on the carpet and cutting his arm deeply as it slid against one of the sharper teeth. "Got i-ow!" He said as the pain hit him.

"What's wrong?" Dave looked over and his grin vanished the moment he saw Chris gripping his bleeding arm while Talek could think of nothing other than to watch him and try to mentally reassure him that he'll be alright.

"Don't stand there! Do something!" He commanded.

"I...umm...I'll find something." He started running around, looking through drawers and cabinets while looking for something to use as a bandage like he had seen in movies.

At last, and after far too long, he returned with an old, but clean, piece of clothing, having not found anything else to use.

"Come on! It hurts!" Chris complained, holding onto Talek's head for moral support.

"Yeah, I know, I'm trying." He tried wrapping the cloth around the cut tightly, making a neat knot to hold it. "There, that's the best I can do."

"You could have gone a little faster, I've got blood all over me now."

There was a moment where a sliver of tension fell between the two boys, only to be destroyed by Talek's comment.

'I can help with that.' He thought, starting to lick the blood off his hand, making him have to look away from Dave and smile lovingly at the dragon.

Dave sighed. "Looks like having a dragon has costs too."

"Now you realize."

"Yeah, well I haven't been paying attention."

"Well, I would never say it isn't worth it, and not just because Talek can hear."

"You sure he's listening? He seems pretty focused on your hand."

"No, he tends to always listen, in fact, we can just talk to him right now. We shouldn't forget how he can talk, well, think."

"Yeah." He grinned. "Hey Talek, how does Chris' blood taste?"

"What kind of question is that?!"

Talek answered anyway. 'Salty.'

"Well, there's our answer." Dave laughed.

'Why do you ask? Do you want to taste it?'

"No, no he doesn't!" Chris cut in, quickly taking his arm away, only to give it back a moment later after seeing how it still wasn't clean.

Dave only started laughing more at this.

"What?"

He struggled to recover. "Oh, it's nothing, never mind."

As he said this, Annie suddenly returned. "Both of you, out. Nyolnen says you have to work if you want to live here."

"Aww." Dave complained.

"But I have Talek to take care of." Chris reasoned.

"I don't care, he has to wait here while you find some place to work."

"Fine." Reluctantly the two got up and left Talek as they headed out to the door.

"See you in a bit Talek." Chris said just before closing the door behind him, leaving Talek and Annie alone.

'Why did you lie to them?' Talek asked.

"Because then I wouldn't be able to do this." She was quick to put her things down on the table and quicker to run over to start petting Talek.

The dragon instantly started purring at her touch, while he was not fond of her lying, he was never one to turn down being pet, so for the time being, he enjoyed it.

Outside, "Chris?"

"Yeah?"

"So, umm, any idea where to work?"

"Not really, we'll just have to look around."

After some searching, they found no other place open other than Cilrev's one tavern. The building was quite in contrast to the rest of the city, being the merriest and more so, loudest, building in Cilrev.

"Work? Well, I suppose you two could clean the place up when someone's made a mess. Believe me, that happens a lot, so it should keep you two more than busy." The owner said, handing Chris a broom and Dave a washcloth.

As he did so, a loud crash could be heard as a glass fell to the floor and shattered, followed by the drunks laughing over it.

"Well, there you go, your first job." He said, giving the boys a push towards the mess.

For the rest of the day, with two breaks to eat, they worked hard while listening to the drunken ramblings of those around them. The sound of drinks being spilled and more glasses breaking rang in their poor ears as one of the more saturated elves carelessly knocked over their glass. Dave soon began to think they were doing it on purpose just to annoy him, and seeing how often it happened, he may have been right.

But eventually, the evening drew it's dim, colorful curtain over the sky for the small amount of dusk it had.

"That's enough you two." The tender called to them.

Once Chris translated the message to Dave, the two ran to the counter.

"Here you go." He handed four brightly polished silver coins to each of them. "And this." He brought up a couple of glasses of something and handed them over.

"Umm, what is this?" Chris asked.

"A drink of course, you earned it."

"Err, we don't drink."

"Well you should start, you won't regret it."

Cautiously and slowly Chris brought the glass to his lips, only to stop suddenly.

"What do you think you're doing?" Nyolnen's voice reached him.

In a flash he put the glass back down while Dave watched, confused. "Umm, nothing." He looked over to see the elf towering over him.

"Do you know what you did?"

"What you asked?"

"Lies! I was just telling you to stay with Talek and now you wander off to drink?! And as if to blankly insult me, you leave Annie to take care of him in your stead! What were you thinking?!"

"Umm, that I was doing-"

"Enough excuses! We are going home!" He took hold of Chris' arm and pulled him out of the building, Dave running to keep up.

In a matter of minutes they were reunited with Talek and Annie. Nyolnen let go of Chris' arm, and to his surprise, there was no mark at all.

"So you found them?" Annie asked, looking smug.

"Yes, and I'll make sure we can expect Chris to not neglect his duties anymore." Nyolnen answered once Talek was able to translate for him.

When that message was returned to her, her grin vanished in a moment. "Umm, good, that's good."

Nyolnen straightened himself and returned to his usual tone. "Anyway, I believe now would be the best time to inform you that we shall be leaving again tomorrow."

"Where are we going?" Chris wondered.

"That will be left for you to discover, but that is later, now you had best apologize to Talek and I."

"Why you?"

"Because I am in charge here and you should do as I say without question." There was a harsh edge to his words.

"Fine, I apologize Talek, and I apologize to you to Nyolnen."

"Good. Now I assume you have already eaten a good dinner?"

"Yes, we went out to eat not long before you arrived."

"Then you had better get ready for sleep, tomorrow shall be a long day, longer if you forget your duties once again." He informed all of them with Talek's help.

Without any objections, they quickly began to do so. Soon, Chris was left alone in front of the fire with Talek while the others got comfortable in their beds.

'Chris?' Talek asked before Chris could get comfortable against him.

"Yes? What is it?"

'I'm hungry.'