Page 134 of Pets in Space 10

Hazel

Tyvaron fell asleep after he’d eaten every tiny scrap of meat.

I let him rest, watching his chest rise and fall.

His breathing seemed to be deeper now, less of a struggle.

At some point, I got some more moss and cleaned his wounds again.

He didn’t wake, which must have meant that I didn’t cause him any further pain.

Once I had thrown the bloodstained moss out of the cave’s gaping entrance, I curled up in front of him. Ruby immediately appeared at my side, chittering happily. Tiny tendrils of smoke came from her nostrils. She was just too cute to be real.

And she had no shame whatsoever. She snuggled against Tyvaron, rubbing her scales against his with glee, before her eyes fell shut. A tiny snore escaped her open mouth.

I swallowed a chuckle, not wanting to wake her.

If she did it, why shouldn’t I? I was cold – the fire was quickly growing smaller – and he was asleep. He wouldn’t notice.

I slowly inched closer, until my back pressed against his scales. The warmth of his scales seeped into my skin, comforting in a way that made no sense. He was a dragon. A cyborg weapon. An alien. And yet... I felt safer here than I ever had in my old bed back home.

Just for a minute, I let myself rest.

The fire crackled softly beside us. Ruby let out another snore, twitching slightly in her sleep, her tiny claws curling against Tyvaron's foreleg.

My eyes drifted shut.

I didn’t mean to fall asleep. Just a few seconds, I told myself. A moment to breathe.

But my body had other plans.

Wrapped in warmth, surrounded by smoke and stone and dragons, I let the exhaustion take me.

For once, there were no nightmares.

Only stillness.

Only quiet.

Only peace.

***

I woke to a strange silence.

No smoke, no soft snores, no distant dragon breath. Just the quiet hush of morning in a cave that felt suddenly… empty.

I sat up with a start.

Ruby was gone. Tyvaron, too.

Panic flared for a heartbeat – until a soft gust of wind curled through the mouth of the cave, bringing with it a warm scent I was beginning to associate with him. Fire, metal, sky. And something… earthy. Real.

Then a shadow shifted in the entrance.

Tyvaron stepped inside, wings tucked, claws surprisingly silent against the stone. His body moved with more strength than the day before. Not fully healed, but stronger. Steadier.

He was carrying something in his arms – no, someone.

Ruby.

The tiny dragonlet dangled like a satisfied kitten, belly round and eyes bright.

“She found fruit,” Tyvaron said, his deep voice rumbling softly. “Then fell into a bush and refused to come out. I had to negotiate.”

I stared at him. Then at Ruby, who blinked innocently and puffed smoke in my direction.

“Negotiate?” I echoed, lips twitching.

“She made demands. I made counter-offers.”

I laughed. It felt good to laugh. A little too good. Something about seeing this enormous, terrifying creature talking about bartering with a baby dragon over berries made the world tilt a bit more in my favour.

Tyvaron set Ruby down. She waddled over and pressed her head into my side like she’d been gone for years instead of minutes.

“I would have brought you food, but I had to carry her. She ate too much and couldn’t fly. Silly little one.”

He looked at the tiny dragon with nothing but love.

“We can stop there again on the way to the supply caves. Then we’ll try and find you some clothes, rations, maybe a weapon if we’re lucky. Your species is not equipped very well.”

I crossed my arms and glared at him. “My species is harder than you think.”

“I’m coming to realise that.” He flashed me a toothy grin. “I’m ready.”

I blinked up at him.

His scales gleamed in the morning light – shimmering turquoise and aquamarine, the mother-of-pearl sheen more alive than ever. His wings were still ragged at the edges, but they held their shape. I couldn’t see any fresh blood. His limbs were steady. His eyes? Focused. Clear.

“You’re sure?” I asked quietly.

“I can carry us both. Slowly, and only for short stretches. We will travel by wing and by foot. It will not be easy.” He tilted his head slightly. “You can still choose to stay.”

I stood and brushed cave dust from my thighs. “And miss out on the chance to storm an evil lab on the back of a cyborg dragon? Not a chance.”

He huffed. “You’re mad.”

“You’re only now noticing?”

Tyvaron crouched low, letting me climb onto his back between the plates of heavier scales. His skin was warm beneath me, familiar now. My fingers curled around the natural ridges near his neck.

“Ruby will follow us,” he said, and I realised she’d fallen asleep in a corner. Food coma. “She knows the way to the caves. And even if we’ve moved on by then, she can follow my scent.”

The wind hit as soon as we stepped from the cave. The cliff dropped away below us, a breathtaking view of golden trees and red-rock ridges stretching for miles. In the distance, the diamond mountains I had travelled towards a lifetime ago. Somewhere out there, danger waited.

So did answers. And more.

“Ready?” Tyvaron asked.

I looked down at the sheer drop and regretted it instantly. I focused instead on the clouds above, the golden sun.

“Yes. Let’s do this.”

He leapt.

The wind swallowed us whole.

And the journey began.

***

Flying wasn’t what I expected.

It wasn’t graceful, or peaceful, or magical.

It was terrifying.

Wind howled in my ears. My eyes watered instantly. Every instinct screamed that we were too high, that I wasn’t meant to be here, clinging to the back of a biomechanical dragon as he soared over cliffs like gravity was a suggestion and death a dare.

My arms ached from gripping the thick ridge at the base of his neck. The motion of his wings threw my body back and forth like a sack of laundry in a storm. I pressed my chest to his back, trying to stay low, trying not to think about how very far the ground was below us.

And yet…

The view was unlike anything I’d ever seen.

Beneath us stretched endless forests in shades of fire interrupted only by pale rock spires that jutted up like broken bones.

In the far distance, the Diamond Mountains glinted like frost-tipped teeth.

A storm brewed on the horizon, purple clouds flashing with flickers of lightning, but the skies above us were clear.

And Tyvaron’s body, beneath me, was solid and warm.

I trusted him.

That fact hit me like a second wave of vertigo.

I trusted this giant alien weapon of destruction. Because he’d brought me food. Because he’d cooked for me. Because he’d let me sleep against him and hadn’t tried to bite my head off.

It wasn’t rational. But it was real.

He banked gently to the left, gliding lower, and shouted something over the wind. I couldn’t make out the words, but I caught the intent: Hold on tight.

I did.

We descended sharply, my stomach dropping as wind roared around us. Below, a jagged ravine opened into a narrow ledge flanked by two crumbling stone pillars. It didn’t look like much from the air, but as we neared, I saw the outline of a cave mouth – half-collapsed, hidden by vines.

Tyvaron landed hard enough to drive the breath from my lungs. His wings flared wide to slow the impact, claws scraping against the stone as he skidded forward and came to a stop with a low grunt.

I slid off him the moment he crouched low enough.

My knees shook and my legs felt like jelly.

“Ten out of ten for drama,” I huffed. “Zero for comfort.”

He made a rumbling noise that I thought might be a laugh. “With the state of my wings, I would have preferred to walk, too. But this was quicker.”

“No kidding.”

I glanced around. The air was cooler here, shaded by rock and heavy foliage. The cave mouth yawned ahead of us, partially filled by fallen rocks, but still passable. Pale moss clung to the walls, and something that looked like frost shimmered faintly in the deeper shadows.

“This is it?” I asked.

He nodded. “One of the smaller cache sites. I found it cycles ago. Couldn’t enter myself. Sent the little one instead. She told me what was inside.”

“And you trust her?”

“With my life,” he said simply.

That shut me up.

Together, we approached the entrance. I ducked low to avoid a hanging root – bright orange like most of the trees here - and squeezed through the narrow gap in the rock.

The air inside was cooler still, tinged with dust and something faintly metallic.

My bare feet slipped on smooth stone, and I had to use the wall to steady myself.

I really hoped they had shoes stashed in here.

The sunlight was blocked behind me as Tyvaron tried to peek inside. He couldn’t follow, but his voice rumbled close.

“I will remain here. If anything moves, shout for help.”

“Comforting,” I muttered under my breath, and pressed deeper inside.

It was only a short tunnel, maybe ten or fifteen meters, before it opened into a chamber about the size of a small house. There was no glowing moss like in Tyvaron’s cave. I squeezed my eyes together, trying to make out what the shapes inside the cave were hiding. Hopefully not a sleeping beast.

A large cube to my right caught my eye. Metal glinted in the dim light as I approached cautiously. A crate of some sort.

And in it – bingo.

Supplies.

If there had ever been a system to the crate’s contents, it had all long ago jumbled together. In the end, I grabbed as much as I could and carried it outside into the sunshine.

“I see you were successful,” Tyvaron said appreciatively.

“That is yet to be seen. I just brought everything. No idea if any of it is helpful.”

I searched through the pile, discarding empty containers and plastic bags that may have once held food. Most of it was broken, rubbish or I didn’t know what purpose it could serve, but amongst the rubbish were a few gems.

A blanket that I could wrap around me like a skirt. A sleeveless shirt made for someone much bigger with four armholes instead of the usual two. A shoulder bag made from a crinkly sort of material that shimmered brightly in the sun. And best of all, a knife, the blade still sharp.

No shoes, but I cut two strips off the blanket and wrapped them around my feet. Better than nothing.

I put on my new outfit, glad there was no mirror. I had to look ridiculous. But still – it was a huge improvement on walking around naked.

I turned to Tyvaron and spread my arms, laughing to cover my awkwardness.

“Ta-daaaa! How do I look?”

He didn’t speak.

His gaze swept over me from head to toe. Not with hunger, not with judgment. Just… appreciation. Soft, warm, full of something I didn’t dare name.

“You look prepared,” he said at last.

“I feel it,” I replied, and I meant it. “Next stop: food. And then the evil lab of doom.”

He huffed again, his eyes glittering. “I saw some berries over there. And see those gnarly trees over there? They harbour large nuts, a bit oily but I have seen other beings eat them. I shall rattle the closest tree and you can tell me if they’re any good.”

Off he walked, limping slightly, while I watched with a smile curving my lips. He was providing me with food again. I could get used to this.