Snake Charmer

Troi stalked through the castle mumbling to herself. Piper’s words echoed in her ears and as hard as she tried to think of something else, her only thought was that maybe she did like him too much. That was inconceiveable though. She didn’t really like anyone
because no one really liked her. Even if she did like him, he probably thought she was nuts. Her lofty, indifferent personality usually turned people off. She was so wrapped up in her own little world, that she had little time for others. Besides, if they became involved, he would eventually start to hate her for her bizarre little secret-- like everyone. Every night of the last seven days that she had been here, she’d dreamed about him. Dreamed that they were friends, that he thought of her as more than an “infuriating annoyance.” And other dreams that she couldn’t really remember, but that woke her up with
sweat covering her body and her breath heaving in her chest. Not that she would admit it, but lately she looked foreward to falling asleep.

She decided that it was time to explore, just to get her mind off of things for a while. Sitting on her bed, she pulled on her boots and strapped the crossbow and a small dagger to either thigh. As she walked across the common room, she caught Piper’s eye and she waved. Troi smiled nervously and nearly knocked a small girl over trying to get out of the room. She was relieved to find that there was no one in the kitchen and nothing between her and the back door to the outside. She had little use for people and right
now, she really didn’t want to see anyone.

She made her way slowly out of the castle and found herself in the old stables behind it. “Funny. Why would they have stables?” she thought. “Must be part of the ruins.” She hiked up to the small stony building. It looked to be nearly falling down with
holes and charred spots on the roof and walls. She hadn’t really expected to find anything there, but as she slipped the latch on the gate, she walked in to find a large black stallion munching hay in one of the stalls. He whinnied a little as he saw her, but was generally uninterested and went back to chewing. “Hi there,” she whispered, walking towards the horse slowly with her hand outstretched. She closed her blue eyes and placed her hand on the diamond-shaped spot of white between his eyes. The horse put his head down slightly and nuzzled her hand amiably. “Do they keep you tied up here all day?” She smiled and stroked his nose gently. Troi had always had an easier time with animals than people. She supposed it was all related to her “talents” but sometimes she wished that she had better repoire with people. “You like me don’t you?” The horse pushed his nose against her palm in response. She smiled and pressed her cheek against the sleek, fuzzy muzzle. She spotted a brush hanging on a nail in the corner and reached to pull it down. “Shall I give you a brushing, old boy? You look like you could use one.” She talked to the horse gently as she brushed out his mane and the shiny black fur that covered his skin. “We should go for a ride, you and me. Get some fresh air. Don’t you ever get tired of just sitting around in here?”

Slowly, an idea formed in her brain and she hung up the brush. “No one would mind. Just a little ride over the hill and back.” She looked around the corner of the stables and saw that no one was around. It was almost dinner hour and most of the inhabitants had gone in for the day. Troi pushed the gate open and stood on a stool, climbing onto the horse expertly. Holding onto the horse’s mane gently, she dug her heels into his flanks and took off like the wind from the stable.

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As everyone collected at the tables in the dining room, the noise was deafening with all the talk. Life had improved a great deal in the castle since the fire. Everyone had new hope that soon they would be free to start again. The dragons’ numbers were
decreasing daily thanks to the hundreds of dragonslayers that had popped up since the one male had been killed. Since last summer, they had made contact with another community and even gotten more seeds to plant. It seemed that their little village was meant to survive. Creedy often joked that life was better now that Quinn was getting laid on a regular basis. Everyone was still too afraid to go venturing out alone and they still slept with one eye open. But now at least it seemed that they were waiting to live instead of waiting to die. Just as everyone had settled down to eat, Denny rushed in, out of breath. No one seemed to notice much, as the gatekeeper was known for overreacting.

“Dragon! There’s a dragon moving in over the hills!” he shouted over the noise. Instantly everyone dropped their forks and started moving towards the shelter. The children moved like tiny robots, the older ones shuffling the younger ones along as Alex led them down the stairways. “This way, children! Everyone take someone’s hand!” Quinn, Creedy, and the rest of the men rushed along the corridors, shoving people aside and calling out for stragglers. Denny ran behind them, grabbing at the back of Creedy’s shirt until he stopped.

“The girl! The one that came last week! I saw her take Quinn’s horse. She’s out there on the hillside!”

Quinn shouted, grabbing a little girl and slinging her over one shoulder, “Leave her! She was a fool to go out there alone!”

“You can’t just leave her there, Quinn!” Creedy shouted. “She may be stupid, but we can’t just leave her to die!”

“That’s your business, mate! If you want to go out there, feel free, but I’ll leave that to you!” As they argued, the could see the beast fly past the window, soaring among the clouds. “Just lead it away from the castle is all I ask!” Quinn rushed off towards the shelters, hearing Alex shouting for him.

Creedy stood staring dumbly in utter confusion considering his options until a hideous shriek from the dragon outside brought him out of his stupor. The shrill screaming seemed to pierce right down to your bones. He could hear the children screaming as they heard the roaring. He knew he had to go out there and he sprang into action. Pushing through the doors, he made his way to the gates and rushed outside. He couldn’t see the dragon, but he could hear its wings beating against the wind. Running to the other side of the courtyard, he saw the somewhat bedraggled motorcycle left by Alex’s friends the summer before. Throwing the rifle he carried over his shoulder, he jumped on the bike and kicked it to life.

Once outside the castle walls, he could see that the dragon had barely noticed the castle and was going towards a new target with renewed vengeance. Somehow he knew that it was Troi. “Crazy bitch...” he mumbled as he pushed the bike to go faster and faster over the hills. He found it slightly amazing that he could keep it on the damp grass without flipping it over. He crested the first ridge and saw her there. Quinn’s horse stood behind her and she stood in the middle of the valley, her arms outstretched over her head.

“Troi!” he shouted, flooring the gas pedal and speeding towards her. He tried not to watch as the dragon circled her overhead. Was she trying to commit suicide? “What the fuck are you doing?” he yelled again, trying to get her attention, but she didn’t move. The dragon set down right in front of her and reared back. Creedy looked up and saw the beast rearing back to breathe fire over the girl and char her ash. “No!” he screamed and jerked the bike just enough to throw him and the decrepit motorbike in opposite directions. He rolled over and over in the grass and shook his head as he stopped a few yards from the girl. He was dazed, but alright, he was amazed to realize. When his vision cleared, he peeked over the grass and saw that Troi was not only alive but standing in front of the dragon, which appeared to be bowing its head to her. “Dear God... what are you?” he whispered.

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Creedy laid in the wet grass and watched Troi with the dragon for hours it seemed. He kept expecting it to fry her at any second, but it didn’t. It just stood there and appeared to watch her. Even the horse, Vader, just stood there chewing on the grass as the exchange took place. After a while, the dragon let out a shrill cry and took wing, blowing the grass and their hair as it went. And then it was gone.

Troi turned around and pushed her hair back from her face and started towards the horse. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Creedy shouted, stumbling up from the ground. “You could have been killed!”

“I could be killed trying to get on this horse. Or walking down the road. Hell... I could almost be killed taking a shower.” She started to climb onto Vader and he stopped her, grabbing her wrist and turning her around.

“I just laid there and watched you almost annihilated by that dragon! What in hell were you thinking? And taking Vader without even so much as a goodbye! What if someone had needed him? What then? Do you ever think of anyone but yourself?” He seemed to get angrier with each breath and was shouting in her face.

Troi stood there completely still and blinked calmly as his tirade continued. At his first breath she broke in, “Why are you so angry?”

“Because, you crazy bitch, you nearly killed us both!”

“You didn’t have to come out here. I would have been fine without your help. Not that you helped anyway. Or even care what happens to me.”

“If I didn’t care what happened to you, I wouldn’t be here, would I?”

She jerked her wrist from his grasp and turned her blue eyes away from his. “Don’t do me any favors.” She nearly kicked him as she leaped onto the horse. “I can take care of myself.”

He watched as she rode off across the field, leaving him behind. He walked back and found that there were pieces of the dirtbike strewn all over the hill. It wouldn’t be
operable again, so he decided to leave it and walk back to the castle. The dragon would most likely not be back anytime soon. He went over what he had seen over and over in his mind. It looked like she was talking to the dragon. Why had it not just leveled her like he had seen them do to so many of his friends? Was she some kind of Dr. Doolittle come to
life? The questions made his head hurt and he wanted nothing more than to get back to the castle and lie down. As he approached the castle, he could see that everyone had come out of the shelters and were milling around. They were mumbling to each other and looking off into the sky. It was amazing what you could get used to. In the early days they would have been afraid to come out for the rest of the day, but now a dragon sighting was a fairly normal occurrence.

Several waved as Creedy passed, asking mumbled questions about his whereabouts. He answered them shortly and kept going, not really wanting to talk
about his exchange with Troi.

“Creedy! Wait---” Piper called out, running towards him. The girl was so small that she had to run to keep up with his strides, made longer and faster by his haste to get away from everyone.

“Piper... can it wait? I’m really--- I just really don’t want to talk right now.”

“I just wanted to know if you found her.” She pushed her messy red hair away from her face and stared up at him. Truth is, she had always liked Creedy herself,
but he thought she was just a kid. Though wise beyond her years, Piper was a mere child at eighteen.

“I assume you mean Troi. And yes I found her.”

“Is she okay?”

“Piper, I don’t think that woman will ever really be okay. But as for her physiological self, yes she’s fine.” He smirked and playfully punched her shoulder as he passed, hurrying into the castle before anyone else could stop him.

***********************************

It was about 2 am when Creedy decided that tossing and turning was worse than death and gave up on sleep. He sat up and went to his window, pulling the sheeting
off of it and letting the unseasonably warm breeze blow through his room. He lit a candle and flopped back down across his bed. He couldn’t get the image of Troi and the dragon out of his mind.

When the dragons had first come, he was only 11 years old. The first shelter he’d been in was crowded with kids his age and only a few adults. The shelter was always buzzing with stories from the outside world, some true and some wildly exaggerated. He’d heard an old woman telling a story about a sorcerer with the heart of a dragon, who would come and save them all. He’d believed that story so much longer than he should have. He didn’t really give up on that story until he was 17 and watched two dragons pull his baby sister apart like a Barbie doll. He’d realized then that the only person you could depend on for help was yourself.

Then there was Troi. And on that hill today, she’d looked for all the world like the mythical sorcerer that sick old lady had described. He pulled the pillow over his head and tried to block out all these thoughts and bad memories. Creedy had never been one to lose much sleep over the past. What’s done is done and he tried to live in the moment. In these times, the simpler you were, the better. Quinn’s problem was that he was too complex.

Thinking too much about the past. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to will himself to go to sleep. He’d surely feel better in the morning. He had just started counting backwards when he heard the small scratching at his door. He sighed and pulled the
pillow tighter over his ears. Maybe if he pretended not to be there, they’d go away. No such luck as the scratching continued. “Go away, Liam!” he shouted, feeling certain that the small boy was the one tapping on his door. The child was nearing ten and should
really learn not to be scared of everything.

“Who’s Liam?” the voice behind the door replied.

Creedy raised his eyebrow and sat up. “I’m trying to sleep,” he called.

“I need to talk to you, will you open the door please?”

He rolled his eyes and lurched across the room, not bothering to pull his shirt on again, and jerked the door open. “Troi,” he answered, his tone raised in surprise, at seeing her standing in his doorway.

“I wanted to talk to you, can I come in?” Her blue eyes looked up at him widely, almost begging him.

He didn’t answer, but opened the door wide enough for her to duck under his arm and step inside.

“You weren’t asleep were you?”

“Not yet.”

“Good. I didn’t want to disturb you.” She smiled and her eyes wandered around his room. It was sparse, only the bed and a few clothes strewn here and there. “You have a window.” She smiled and gestured at the window half-covered in a plastic curtain that was blowing in the breeze from outside.

“I have to be able to see what’s going on outside.” He rubbed his eyes with the backs of his hands. “You can sit down if you want.”

“Thanks.” They sat in silence for a few minutes, her watching him try to shake off the sleepiness that obviously still held onto him. As he rubbed his eyes, he stole a few glances at her. She wore a thin, tattered pair of loose pants and a shirt so stretched
out, that it fell off of one shoulder and revealed the curve of her breast. Her hair was messy, as if she herself had just awakened from sleep. She sat on his bed, shifting positions awkwardly and finally settling down, her knees curled under her chin, feet crossed daintily. “Uhm.. well. I just wanted to come and apologize for earlier.”

“It’s alright,” he said, yawning through the words.

“No. No it isn’t. What you said about me is true. I’m impulsive and I don’t think of anyone but myself. And I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put you in danger.”

“Not a day goes by that I’m not in danger for some reason. It’s really okay.” He looked her over and wanted so much to ask her about what he’d seen out there in the field. But he just couldn’t think of a good way to say it. ‘What are you?’ just didn’t seem
appropriate. “I shouldn’t have been so rough with you. It’s just the way I am sometimes. Especially when I’m scared.”

Troi laughed. “Are you kidding? Someone needs to talk to me that way from time to time. I’ve been on my own for so long that sometimes I forget that my actions affect others. What you said kind of snapped me back to reality. And I said my share, I guess.”

He nodded and silence descended on the room again. Lightning tore across the sky, making them both jump out of their stupor. Troi spoke first. “Anyway, I just wanted to say sorry. Can we be friends?”

“Absolutely.” They shook hands clumsily and a little shiver went up Troi’s spine as they touched. She tried to shake it off as a chill, but her eyes darted to the floor quickly.

“Well.... good night.” She turned to walk away quickly and stubbed her toe on the foot of the bed. “Oww...” she cursed under her breath.

“Are you okay?” he asked, offering his arm to support her.

“Yes. I fall over things a lot. I’ll be fine.” She stared down at his outstretched arm for a moment and almost took it, but jerked her hand away. “I can make it. See you in the morning, then.”

“See you...” He watched her limp out of the room and close the door behind her. He stared at the closed door for a long time, running his fingers through his hair nervously. He couldn’t see the other side where Troi stood, leaning weakly against the doorframe.