9 The Not Rock (2/2)
She found another.
”No.”
Another.
”No.”
”So, they're like not all stones of not flying.”
Sigh. ”No.”
[But the dragon hardly seemed to even look when she picked it out of that huge pile of stones? So is it just this one stone or all the ones over there?] When Nelda's groping hands found the right stone Nelda felt it right away. It was the feeling of her own flesh having weight on her bones, her own organs pressing on her lungs, her heart protesting a suddenly more difficult task, and her bra having to do its job again. ”Right.”
Nelda cautiously pushed the large stone off her thighs.She stayed reassuringly attached to the ground.She stood.Her back hurt. It felt great.
She took a little jump and thudded back on the ground. Nelda giggled. She jumped around in a little circles like a little bunny rabbit on crack.The ropes still tied to her ankles flapping behind her.”Ah, this is so good.”
The dragon actually rolled her eyes, without even lifting her head off the ground.The lips around her giant jaws rippled at she spoke.”Yourself is unseemly at being so joyful to return to the world of the crawling.”
Nelda spun, the small stone gripped hard in her hand. ”Oh, I a so grateful to you and I promise to get better at flying and, um, to deserving of being, um, a flier.”
”Flighted.”
”What?”
”Of being flighted.I suggest yourself works on that quickly.Once this one lays, this one will experience a change in mood.This one will probably remember not to kill or eat a fellow flighted, but…”
Nelda turned to the entrance where the two satyrs could be seen in silhouette. BugleHead was making bird flapping motions with his hands.HoneyBeard picked up a rock and through it out of the geode cave.
There was a faint sound of a retreating ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping…
[Oh dear.]
It was something of a struggle to get the ropes untied, and even more of one to climb up the giant's stairs to the entrance way.The stones were fortunately not sharp edged but the clustered into smooth faceted surfaces that were easier to slide down than to climb up.
Once she got there Nelda peered over the edge. She backed up and knelt down before looking over again.The geode cave was embedded into the side of a high, ragged mountain. There were other mountains in the range around them and the up-thrusting rock sloped down sharply to their right. Over there the land swooped down and smoothed out into a peaceful green tableau.From this distance it could have been grass or trees or some other weird alien thing.
BugleHead was standing quite confidently near the edge.”We can get down there, I think,” he said.
”One way or the other,” HoneyBeard added.
”Hey,” BugleHead said to Nelda.”What's with the not flying?”
”The dragon gave me a rock of not-flying. [It really needs a better name.]But then she said she might still eat us after she lays the eggs.”
”Strange, strange god,” HoneyBeard muttered. He looked at the sharp decline of the mountain around them as if giving it much more serious consideration.”How good are you at climbing?”
Nelda wiggled her toes inside her shoes.”Terrible,” she admitted.
Inside the dragon began to snore.