Louis’s Collected Souls:
Wolf, Orc, Dragon.
Once you’ve seen one cloud, you’ve seen them all. After a few hours of flying, the thrill had worn off and with nothing to interrupt his straight path through the sky other than the occasional flap of his wings, Louis wondered how far he ought to go. He was heading north. That was all he knew. How far north, he had no idea, but supposed he would know once he arrived.
As he considered this, he was dimly aware of something else in the sky. A speck, to his left. He barely paid it any attention, but the next second it was rapidly getting larger. Instinct took over and he rolled just as something small but quick rushed past his head.
He quickly righted himself, beat his great wings to slow to a hover and scanned the clouds. Was he under attack? Was it another monster? Was it humans, firing cannonballs at him? Surely he was too high up? For a brief moment, he wondered if he’d imagined it. Then, it happened again.
It came from almost directly behind him, though he saw it just in time. Another roll, though this time he kept his eye on his attacker. As it passed, he saw it was a bird. A hawk or falcon, no larger than his head. He smirked, insomuch as a dragon can, but his very toothy grin was quickly dispelled when the bird swiftly redirected and went for another lunge.
Louis employed a more elaborate spin and dive. He was hardly afraid of the bird -the indignity of the idea- but it did seem to be going for his eyes and those talons were not wisely dismissed. He put on a burst of speed and directed his dive into the clouds. He darted in and out, enjoying the moisture running across his scaly hide, until he was certain he must’ve lost the bird. And yet, to his immense irritation, there it was again, embarking on another attack.
‘He’s driving me lower’, Louis realised as he raced away from his attacker. That a puny hawk could be this much trouble. Louis scanned the ground for some trees or crags that he could dart between, hoping to trick the bird into crashing, but all around was dense scrubland. No plants taller than shrubs and no hills steeper than a mound.
The hawk struck again, from above. Louis tried to roll aside, but his wing brushed the dirt. He tumbled, skidding across the golden grass at speed. He felt his bag and sword slip out of his claws and, panicking he might slide too far to find them again, he instinctively shrivelled back into a human. Only then he was a naked human skidding across the golden grass, which was considerably more uncomfortable.
He grasped at the grass that slid through his fingers and managed to bring himself to a stop. He stood up, dirty and bedraggled. The hawk was circling nearby. Louis had expected it to leave him alone now he was human, but he soon saw it was looping around for another run at him. It pelted toward him at great speed.
Louis scanned the grass for his sword. It was much further now he was human. He thought about dashing over to it as the wolf, but then the grass would be too tall to see over. So instead he waded his way to it as a human, trying to run but slowed by the grass. The bird was gaining on him. It was faster than he, but further away. It was going to be close. He dove on the sword and scrambled to his feet. He turned back to the bird just in time for it to hit him in the chest.
As a human, the bird seemed so much bigger. It knocked him onto his back and pinned him, feeling much heavier than he thought it would. But he felt no talons piercing his skin. Instead, he felt something soft on his stomach. Then warm hands pressing on his shoulders. He opened his eyes and saw where the bird had been was a man.
He was a tall and lithe man, with cocoa skin and the muscles that came from a lifetime of outdoors. His long, dark hair hung about his shoulders in ropes and pearly teeth smiled through an light but unruly beard. His arms and pecs were inlaid with intricate tattoos. As Louis followed his body downward, he saw similar tattoos on his thighs. His BARE thighs. Though Louis could not lift his head much, he could feel the man’s organ resting limply on his stomach. To his embarrassment, Louis could feel another part of the man’s anatomy wedged against a part of his own.
‘Get off!’ Louis yelled. He pushed and, though the man was surely much stronger than he, he allowed himself to be thrown off. Both jumped to their feet. Louis stared at the man, who was still smiling.
‘You were a bird a second ago,’ said Louis.
‘Yes!’ said the man. ‘And you were a dragon!’
‘You can turn into animals!’
‘And you can!’
‘Is it just the bird?’
‘No, anything I kill.’
‘Me too!’
‘I thought it was just me!’
‘Me too!’
The man grabbed Louis by the arms and bounded around him with excitement. Louis accidentally snatched a glance at his bobbing organ and suddenly remembered they were both naked. Blushing, he stepped away from the man and went for his bag to find his clothes.
The man watched curiously as Louis dressed. ‘Why are you doing that?’
Louis turned away, to hide his red face. ‘Er,’ he said. ‘I thought I’d carry on on foot.’
The man still looked quizzical. ‘Where’re you headed?’
‘No idea.’ Louis looked up at the sky, tinged with the orange of the evening sun. ‘Though I’d best find a place to sleep soon. And I haven’t eaten for a while.’
‘I can hunt you something!’ grinned the man. He outstretched his arms and when he brought them down, they were wings. The bird flew off into the sky, leaving Louis to wonder if that had really happened.