Cursed: Chapter Four: The Scavenger Observatory

 This is kind of a short chapter. Sorry.

Chapter Four

The Scavenger Observatory

    All in all, I was pretty sure I was hiding my nervousness from Winter pretty well. It probably helped that he couldn't see me, too. We had decided that the fastest way there was for me to ride him, with much misgivings from each of us. Mostly when I thought of riding something, I thought of riding a horse or donkey. Now I was riding a dragon about 100 meters in the air. I guess that's why they invented the phrase, "Expect the unexpected." My whole life has been full of unexpected things. Speaking of which, who was the boy in my room? It seemed kind of suspicious.

    But anyway, the reason I was nervous was because I was going to see people. I had never actually had a conversation with anyone besides Winter before. I could hear the word "nervous" repeated uncountable times in Winter's wingbeats. Nervous, nervous, nervous, nervous, nerv-

    "Here." Winter's voice cut through my thoughts abruptly. He angled down towards the ground, interrupting the "nervous" wingbeats. "This is the observatory."

    It was a large glass dome nestled between two mountains. There was a dragon-sized door, also glass, which was closed. I couldn't see any movement in the rows of what appeared to be dragon-made houses or in the small forest that was also growing in it. "There doesn't seem to be many people."

    Winter sighed. "They're in there. As soon as we put them in they've all run into that big den in front of the door and don't show themselves. I once tried to look in it, but they threw everything they could find at me until I went away. Something tells me they don't like it very much." He landed on the ground with a thump.

    I slid off his back. "Well they are in a glass dome in the middle of nowhere with a dragon always near them. What do you think they would feel?" Winter shrugged and opened the door and I walked inside. It was deathly quiet. No birds, no people, no nothing. I wouldn't want to live there either. I walked carefully to the door of the house Winter had pointed out. This was it. I was going to talk to real, live, people. Call me crazy, sure. Out of my mind, also true. Getting ready to bolt back to my house? Not a chance.

    I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, clenching my fists. This was it. I slowly opened the door...and immediately ducked as a stone flew over my head. The villagers' cries of, "Monster!" echoed in my ears. That apparently was not the best idea. But nothing else came at me and I cautiously straightened up.

    Eyes glinted in the light from the open doorway. Slowly my eyes adjusted to the darkness and I saw them all. There weren't that many. Maybe fifteen? Fifteen people huddled in the house, staring at me. Me. The strange, wild-eyed girl with a cloak made of sewed-together animal skins and tangled hair. The girl that was cursed. I could feel their eyes on me, but also Winter's on my back.

    "Why are you standing there?" A man's voice broke the spell, angry and terrified. "The dragons will see you!"

    I stepped inside, deliberately slowly, and closed the door. The tension in the room seemed to relax and the people drifted off to different corners of the one-room house. They seemed to do this every day, and no one took notice of me, which was a first. Except for one woman. She walked slowly up to me and smiled cautiously. "Hello, dear. My name is Robin."

    Dear. She was calling me dear. Like I belonged with her. It took me a few seconds to process her second sentence. "O-oh, hello. I'm Hazel." Why was I confiding with this random woman? Honestly. I expected better of myself. (I had taken to giving myself silent lectures like a parent or strict teacher would. Kind of weird, but strangely comforting sometimes.)

    "Which village are you from?" Robin asked.

    Village. Oh, yeah. I was coming here to convince them to go out onto the streets, not stand here talking to Robin. I blinked. "Uh, I didn't, I mean I wasn't taken by the dragon." Did all people talk like this when they had their first conversation with someone? Stammering? Like I said, I expected better of myself.

    My words instantly quieted the entire room. Everyone turned towards me, suddenly interested. "What?" The man who had spoken before, evidently the leader or something, stood. "You weren't taken by the dragon?"

    "It's the only way in," another woman said, confusion written all over her face.

    "No, it's not," I said. Should I have gone a bit gentler on them? Eh, what's done is done. "You could use the front door." I motioned to the section of the wall where the door was. "You don't have to be taken by the dragon to have the dragon open the door for you." Wait, why was I calling Winter "the dragon"? "His name is Winter. He asked me to come here to convince you guys to stop living in a hole."

    More confused silence. "Dragons can't talk," someone pointed out.

    "Hush, Moss," someone else told them. "She's obviously confused."

    "The only thing I'm confused about is why you don't believe me," I said, glaring at the direction where I heard the voice. "Dragons can't speak our language, but they have their own. If you want, I can prove it to you." I turned around and opened the door.

    Winter was still standing there, waiting. He looked up when he saw me. "How did it go?"

    I made sure the rest of the people were still listening before I answered. "They want proof or something."

    The observatory folk, as I was starting to call them, gasped at hearing me growl exactly like a dragon. I thought I even heard a few whispers of witchcraft.

    "Proof of what?"

    "That I can speak Dragon."

    "Can't they tell that right now?"

    I looked back at them, staring at me and whispering things with each other. "I think so. If they don't then they must think I'm crazy." I paused. "On second thought, I'm pretty sure they think I'm crazy either way." I turned back to the observatory folk. "Look, Winter will not hurt you. He wants to watch you, not eat you. He is kind of obsessed with scaven- humans."

    "Obsessed with eating us, maybe." The man, who I was calling Bull because of his attitude, stepped out slowly, eyeing Winter the entire time. "Look at him! He's going to eat us! Look at his malicious grin!"

    Actually, Winter wasn't maliciously grinning at him. He was looking at him, yes, but he looked more curious than anything. He had probably never seen scavengers arguing.

    I rolled my eyes so long I actually thought they were going to stay there. "Fine. If you think it would be better, Winter won't come inside unless he's dropping off more people. He just wants to know the extent of your abilities." I looked at him. "Apparently your ability stops at taking a shower."

    Bull reddened. "Excuse me?" He bellowed. I could definitely imagine him pawing at the ground. "What did you say?" He took at step forward.

    I instinctively dove to the side so he narrowly missed me. Winter leaned down, but I shook my head at him. I would do this alone. I grabbed his legs and swung him into the air, with a little effort. He was pretty beefy. Bull landed and glared at me, lunging again. I was tempted to tell him he shouldn't do the same move again, but there wasn't enough time.

    I turned and grabbed his arm, flipping him over my head and making him land on his back. I glared down at him, my untidy hair and untamed eyes adding something extra to the image. If I took my cloak off, he would be even more terrified. But I squashed that thought immediately. NO WAY. "Look, if you won't cooperate, you're going to spend the rest of your life in that house. If Winter trusts you enough not to run away, he'll eventually open the door so this place can be some kind of trading center where no dragons will eat, harm, or do anything except watch the people. He'll never trust you if you attack people for one single insult. Now I might be able to help you renovate these houses and make these nice homes if you just listen and cooperate. Understand?"

    Bull said nothing.

    "I said, 'DO YOU UNDERSTAND?'"

    "Yes," Bull said through gritted teeth. "Fine."

    I let him get up. I turned back to Winter. "I'm pretty sure you won't have any trouble with them again."

    Winter smiled.