Dragons of the Wild

[WolfOfProphecys]

A young looking black and white dragon sat in a cave, curled into a neat ball at the rear. She was small, which was the reason she looked so young, and curled up in the rear of a pitch black cave made her invisible to any intruders outside. The creature yawned, stretching out as her silver eyes flickered open, glowing in the darkness of the cave. She slowly stood, stretching her wings slightly until they brushed the walls, not truly extended because of the size of the cave.


The dragon padded outside, now fully extending her wings until they hit the tree trunks about her as they always did. The black and white, draconic wings folded to her sides neatly, her tail waving softly against the long grass that surrounded her. Looking about, she sniffed the air, needing food. This certain dragon was far to thin, and she hardly ate, but hoped she'd have more luck with her food this morning than the previous five. Like her sleeping patterns, good food was rare.


After wandering about for a while, the she-dragon came to the conclusion that there was nothing that she could find, and began to head to the river for a drink, when she stopped abruptly. Noting tracks, ones that looked like dragon tracks, she curiously followed them, silent on her paws as always

 

[Lord Sia]

Cloud was fairly big, for a wild dragon. However, that was likely to change, as the trio of human warrens - villages - he had protected in exchange for food had betrayed him to the enslavers. When he had arrived to collect his tribute - had it really been a fortnight ago? - they had been waiting, allowing him to claim his prize. Then they attacked, just as he finished eating, when his flames was at their weakest, just like his mother had warned him that they did. But he had thought himself safe enough to eat in the presence of the humans he protected, thought that they respected the bargain they had struck, that they had become, if not friends, then at least close enough acquaintances to be beyond such base treachery.


Not so.


He should have listened to the wisdom of his elders, and perhaps he would not have been driven away from his lands. As it was, the only reason he had managed to escape was because of his shame, which had inured him to fighting fire without fire. And even then it had been a close thing; the last of his wounds were still healing, his scales still cracked and tender and, worst of all, his wings torn.


Without wings, dragons cannot fly. Without flight, it is almost impossible for dragons to catch prey. Without prey, dragons starve. And starving means weakness, sickness, and ultimately death.


Normally, an injured dragon would rely on its flock for help, or in the case of a lone dragon, join one by challenging an alpha, displaying the strength of their fire. Injured dragons rarely won, but if they impressed the alpha they could normally join the flock, at least long enough to recover. If the dragon's fire was too weak, which only happens if a dragon is sick or dying, then the flock would kill them or drive them away.


Which meant that Cloud might as well kill just himself as try to challenge an alpha.


Feeling the gnawing ache of hunger, Cloud wanted nothing more than to roar in anger and frustration, but he forced himself to remain silent. His only option, his only hope, would be to find an unprotected human warren. Unfortunately, unprotected human warrens do not last long, and those that do do so by going unnoticed and remaining undetected. Which left Cloud roaming blindly, hoping to stumble across enough food to let him heal his wings, without drawing the attention of another flock or dragon who might see his presence as a challenge and attack. It was unlikely that he would escape again, and even less likely that he'd win a fight, injured and tired as he was.


Even so, Cloud refused to give in. He would find food, he would heal, he would find a new home and if he couldn't then he would make one. And one day, he'd meet a dragon who would see beyond his weak fire and like him for who he was, just like his mother used to tell him.


He snorted in derision. Even if he'd recently had a brutal lesson in taking his mother's advice seriously, he wasn't that naive. Even if hope was the only thing which kept him going.


And so he marched on.

 

[WolfOfProphecys]

Moon ran forward silently, following the footprints silently. It was a long while before she noticed another dragon up ahead, looking injured. She gulped, she had hoped it had been prey,, something the abnormally thin dragon could eat, but no, instead it was a larger dragon who could probably kill her and eat her for breakfast. She whimpered lowly at him, but her curiosity got the better of her and she ran up to him, "You ok mister?" She called from behind him, hoping that he didn't kill her

 

[Lord Sia]

Cloud was so distracted by his thoughts that he did not even notice the other dragon approaching until she spoke up behind him. Thus, when she did speak, he twitched in surprise, twisting around to face her as he did - and was immediately struck by three things.


First of all, quick, sudden movements hurt. A lot. He hissed in pain.


Second, because he was busy wallowing in outrage, self-pity and pain, he hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings. His hiss became a snarl of rage at his own foolishness.


Third, the dragonling which had approached him was beautiful. A small thing on the brink of adulthood, with black scales that glittered like the stars in the sky, a pair of silver coloured eyes staring at him like twin reflections of the full moon.


A closer look revealed that the dragon was not a wyrmling, however, but rather an adult almost as bad off as he was. She was thin, almost dangerously so, and her entire posture practically screamed of hunger. This made him wonder what had made her approach him. She wasn't out to kill him - if she'd wanted that, she'd just have struck from hiding, before he even knew she was there. If she was part of a flock, then she wouldn't be approaching an outsider without the alpha, and if she was the alpha, then she shouldn't be approaching him alone... Unless the rest of the flock was in an even worse condition. In which case, perhaps she was hoping to find help?


He mentally laughed at the picture - someone asking a red-fire like him for help? Let alone in his current condition?


Even as he snorted derisively at himself he realised that he hadn't heard was she said, to caught up in his own introspection. Choking back another snarl of self-loathing he instead focused on the other dragon and ground out a question, assuming a wary but not openly hostile posture as he did.


"What do you want?"

 

[WolfOfProphecys]

Moons ears flattened, "Are you alright? Y-You seem....i-injured" She stuttered, looking him over and blushing softly beneath her scales. He was handsome, but she couldn't let that cloud her judgement. Instead she kept her posture wary and cautious, ready to run at a moments notice, in case he turned hostile upon her. She silently moved closer, her moon like eyes searching his body for the reason of his pain, and she winced slightly as she looked him over. He was far bigger than her, who had been often mistaken for a younger dragon.

 

[Lord Sia]

Cloud blinked at the obvious question, but managed to contain his sarcastic response to an irritated flex of his crest. He could not help but notice the smaller dragon's somewhat submissive posture, and his heat-sensitive eyes picked up the sudden temperature spike along the smaller dragon's neck and cheeks. He realised that he was scaring her, and relaxed his stance somewhat.


In response, the other dragon moved closer, her curiousity shining through her wariness as she carefully approached him, inspecting his his injuries. Cloud bristled at her intrusiveness and doubly so at her pity when she winced at his half-healed wounds, but forced himself not to show how vulnerable he felt. Instead he flexed and stretched his tattered wings as if to show off his battle scars, feigning strength and pride he did not have. Even half-starved as she was, the dragonette was still very pretty, and if it wasn't for the pain he could almost pretend that he was trying to flirt with her. Bitter experience had taught him better than to reveal his shame, so he refrained from showing his flames.


"Yeah," he finally grunted, while letting his eyes wander over her form in return. She was very different from any other dragon he'd ever seen. Despite being so much smaller than him, her wings had to be almost as big as his when unfolded. Her tail featured neither spike nor blade nor mace, but elegant fins. Her body was sleek, lithe and graceful as she stalked silently across the ground, and he could only imagine how much more elegant she would be when soaring through the air. Her scales were smooth and black, with a single white spot giving the glittering impression despite them being somewhat dulled by starvation.


And it was obvious that she was starving; up close he could almost count her ribs, and while the sight or her muscles flexing under her skin highlighted her lithe body, it also betrayed a disturbing lack of body fat; her lack of food was not a recent thing, and it made Cloud's guts twist in strange way, recalling his former plenty and how he'd taken it for granted.


The strangest feature however was her ears. Actual ears, like those on a rabbit except covered in scales rather than fur. They were starting to relax from their flattened position even as the dragonette herself was relaxing, and Cloud found their twitching movements oddly distracting. Doubly so because it constantly drew his gaze back to her face, which he struggled - and failed - not to stare at. Inevitably, she caught his eyes with hers, and it took all of his willpower not to look away and blush like some adolescent wyrmling. He refused to add, even in his own thoughts, the word 'lovesick', bitter memories bubbling to the surface as he finally sneered out a retort to the dragonette's statement.


"And you're starving. So?"


Even as he spoke he winced internally. Sure, insult the starving stranger who's trying to be nice just because she happens to be pretty. No wonder nobody likes you.

 

[WolfOfProphecys]

Moon flinched slightly at his bitter sounding statement, but marvelled at his scarred wings as he showed off, her own wings unfolding slightly, her own urge to show him herself being strong, but not as strong as her embarrassment, "I'm fine." She mumbled softly, her voice gentle and calm. She was well aware of his roaming eyes, and blushed all the more. She was embarrassed by her body, of which she thought of as something freakish. All other dragons she had met, both male and female, were bulky and strong, not thin and elegant like she was. She looked at him, then gently breathed a cool mist onto his wounds, knowing it would help numb the pain.


Looking up at him, she blushed again as she noted his handsome appearance, and took a step back, her wings completely unfolding this time, showing off to him like a young dragon would to his or her lover. She though, had no clue what she was doing, and simply relied on her instincts to lead her along

 

[Lord Sia]

Cloud's self-loathing only deepened as the dragonette flinched, the flush of fear spreading all the way down her flanks as she mumbled that she was fine. It was a blatant lie, they both knew it, and he felt like even more of a breathless lizard for being so insulting towards her. She looked at him intently, pale silver orbs staring into his blood red eyes with a power completely at odds with her petite frame, entrancing him with a magic as old as the earth itself.


Unable to look away, unable to move to break the connection, he could only watch as she inhaled, preparing to Breathe at him. His instincts were oddly silent even as his conscious mind screamed at him to get out of the way, but he couldn't move. The unrelenting silver gaze transfixed him in place as the white jet sped towards him, completely unlike any flame he'd ever seen before. Even starving and injured as she was, her breath was so powerful that he only felt blessed relief from the pain as it washed over him. His last thought was an incoherent jumble of feelings, awe and terror, envy and lust, gratefulness and shame, loneliness and lo-


Cloud's internal epitaph ground to a halt as he realised that he wasn't dead or dying. In fact, apart from feeling somewhat stiff and numb, he felt a lot better than he'd felt ever since he had been driven from his home by the Enslavers. He chanced a glance at his arms. Rather than having new burns or having been reduced to charred stumps, as he had expected, they were slightly wet, as though he'd run through a mist or light spring shower. More than that, the water was still glittering with magic - strange, unfamiliar, white magic - as it soothed his pains. Turning his gaze back up he could only blink in confusion, staring at the dragonette as she backed up, her skin flushing hot again...


And then she spread her wings.


He distantly noticed that they were jet black on top and the purest shade of white underneath as he tried to process why she displayed them before him, displayed herself, rendering herself open and vulnerable to him. Injured though he was, even with his weak flame - which she had no way of knowing about - there was no way for her to defend herself if he attacked her, no way to avoid or retaliate in time. She'd caught him by surprise, not once, but twice, not only managed to sneak up on him effortlessly (admittedly, a large part of that was his own damn fault) but managed to breathe all over him and he had not even tried to put up a defence.


No matter how starved or weakened, she should be rearing up and roaring her triumph to the heavens above, demanding his submission. In fact, he felt strangely disappointed that she didn't, lurking, spiteful voices in the back of his head suggesting that she knew of him, knew his shame, and thought that he wasn't even worth killing...


Except she wasn't acting superior or disdainful or even mocking. She was submitting herself before him, unasked for, unnecessarily, offering herself up with steadily growing flush of fear - no, not fear. She had absolutely no reason to fear him, and she had to know it, which meant it wasn't fear but-


His thoughts ground to a halt for the fifth time within the space of a handful of minutes. His mind raced as he went over the dragonette's behaviour throughout their encounter yet again. Her timid approach. Her probing questions. Her hurt response. Her piercing stare. Her - and he still had trouble wrapping his mind around it - healing breath. And now her display, complete with steadily growing flush of embarrassment.


In the back of his mind echoed the constant taunts and insults he had grown up with, the ones he had faced whenever he had been with other dragons. Weak-breath, red-fire, useless, smoke-puffer, unwanted... If he'd spared those ghostly taunts a thought, it would have been 'to hell with you'.


With a rumbling purr he walked up to her, his heavy stomps a stark contrast to her own feather-light steps, his torn and tattered wings spread low over the ground only making her own spread high look that much more elegant. With only a single moment of hesitation he stretched forward, gently nuzzling the smaller dragons neck, acknowledging the display, before backing up and reciprocating, head held high and his scarred neck exposed.

 

[WolfOfProphecys]

Moon purred softly as he nuzzled her neck softly, and returned the gesture as he copied, though with a stronger, more powerful stance than her own elegant one. She smiled at him, glad he hadn't attacked her, and nuzzled his neck with a gentle touch, marvelling at the scars that maimed his throat. She ran her tongue over the scars gently, a acknowledgement of his previous pain, and his movement toward her


(Sorry for the short response, I'm going out soon...)

 

[Lord Sia]

Cloud marveled over the sensation of the dragonette's tongue on his wounds, and responded by wrapping his wings protectively around her surprisingly cold body. Weak though his fire might be, he still had plenty of warmth to share, and he was no stranger to running his magic through his body.


His thoughts were racing in every direction. What was her name? Who was she? Where did she come from? What kind of dragon was she? Was the healing breath unique to her or something all of her kind could do? Did she even have a kind, or was she unique? Why was she starving? And most important of all...


... Why was she being so nice to him? No, he knew that, better question; why was she attracted to him? And would she still like him when she found out about his weakness?


The rest of his mind told the first part to shut the hell up and enjoy it while it lasted.

 

[WolfOfProphecys]

Moon purred softly, and leant into his warmth happily. Her small body was grateful from the warmth. She couldn't hold heat that well, due to her lack of fat, and whilst being cold made her powers stronger, the cold made her body shiver, and she whimpered softly, snuggling up to his chest

 

[Lord Sia]

Cloud had no idea how long they had been standing there, snuggling and basking in each others presence, when the moment suddenly ended with a dull roar from below. Cloud froze in shock, feeling as though he'd suddenly been drenched in ice-cold water, before the flush of embarrassment began to burn in his skin, hotter than any flame he'd ever endured from another dragon.


He was really hungry.

 

[WolfOfProphecys]

Moon giggled softly at the rumble, "I would offer you food.... " she mumbled, and gestured to her own thin body sadly. She whimpered softy, looking up at him quietly. She shivered softly, wishing she hadn't took a step back from him in surprise

 

[Lord Sia]

Cloud's embarrassment was both reduced and increased as the dragonette hinted at her own starving state, reduced because she was not making a big deal about him involuntarily interrupting their moment, increased because between the two of them she was clearly the one in greater need of food, and he said as much.


"Wouldn't take it, you need it more." He grumbled, wishing she hadn't stepped away from him but refusing to approach her himself. If he did, she might step away again, but if he didn't, he could pretend it was just because of the surprise and not because she didn't want to stay near him now that the moment was over.


"Hunting's no good round here?" He asked, more to break the silence and keep the conversation from going into awkward territory than because he expected a useful answer. Unlike him she was perfectly unhurt, so if there was plenty of food to be found she wouldn't have been starving.

 

[WolfOfProphecys]

"The flocks take it all. I can only find small mice, rats or diseased creatures" Moon mumbled softly, hating to admit her weakness, even en it was obvious. She shyly moved closer, looking up at him, wanting the warmth back

 

[Lord Sia]

Cloud frowned, feeling a somewhat irrational surge of anger and a rather less surprising if still quite sudden upwelling of protectiveness towards the petite dragonette. It did not make sense; it was not surprising that there was a shortage of food, the ever-encroaching Enslavers ensured that there was a steady stream of dragons fleeing into already established territories. Too many dragons meant that food supplies were depleted, which meant more and increasingly desperate fighting. It also meant that flocks became more reluctant to take in stragglers, and more aggressive about defending and expanding their territories. Which was a large part of why his situation was as bad as it was; when flocks struggled, lone dragons like himself were always the first casualties.


What didn't make sense was why the beautiful dragonette was not part of a flock. Small as she was, she could hardly eat that much, and even if she did, her healing breath should be more valuable than even the strongest of flames. Fire dragons were in constant surplus, other elements like air or lightning were also fairly common, but he'd never even heard of a healing dragon before. Most flocks he was familiar with would have accepted her just for the prestige of having such a rare dragon as a member.


Which meant that there was some other reason for her not joining a flock. She certainly wasn't overly shy, from the way she had approached him - unless that was just a sign of desperation? But if she really was that desperate, she should have just killed him and feasted on his flesh. There was still plenty of meat on his bones, and even if she couldn't use her breath to attack somehow - which he was fairly sure she could - she would still easily have been able to land a killing blow on him.


So clearly, there was another reason for her to avoid flocks. He tilted his head curiously and was just about to ask when the memory of his first meeting with an unknown flock surfaced, and with a barely contained wince he bit back the question. She had been nice to him, helping his wounds, shown interest in him, gold and eggs she was the first friendly dragon he had met since he last met his mother!


He decided that he would not pry, and pray that she would return the favour. Even if it was inevitable that she would discover the reason, he would rather put it off for as long as he possibly could. He had his reason for staying away from the flocks, so did she, and that needed be said about that.


All of this passed through his mind in a matter of moments, and once he'd made his decision and turned his focus back on the dragonette, he found her shyly inching back towards him. She alternated between staring at the ground and giving him entreating looks, glancing at his flanks and shivering slightly in the crisp spring air. It was all he could do not to pounce on her and wrap her up with whole body. Instead, he acted with feigned annoyance, sighing and grumbling as he nonchalantly stepped up next to her and wrapped one tattered wing around her small frame, forcibly running his magic through it to help keep her warm.


If her small, cold body pressing against his mauled bulk made him feel whole in a way he had never even imagined, then no one needed to know. And if he used his wing to hug her tighter against him, well, no one had to know about that either.


"Which way?" He ground out, reluctant to move but aware that they would have to in order to find something to eat. And that seemed far more important than ever before, even though his own hunger was oddly subdued for the moment, finally having a chance to sate the hunger for companionship he had never even known existed.

 

[WolfOfProphecys]

Moon made a rather sweet chirping noise as he brought her to his chest. The tightening of his warm wing only made her soft smile enlarge. His grumbling had made her worried that he was bothered by it, but by him holding her closer than he should of, than he needed to, the simple act let her know he actually enjoyed it somewhat. She raised her head, burying it in the crook of his neck and nuzzling him gently, her cool breath breezing over his hard scales as she exhaled softly. She herself snuggled up to him happily, her wings folded into her sides.


When he asked which direction they should go, Moon simply shrugged. Which way would it matter, the flocks stole all the prey, even when she managed to catch something worthwhile, she'd usually get a bigger dragon come along and scare her away with his or her breath. Fire made Moon weak, it melted her scales and burnt her flesh, and made her weak until that burn healed. Heat, however, was not a problem, as long as it wasn't boiling. When those temperatures came the younger dragon would find a cool cave, and use her breath to freeze the entrance up, then usually sleep until the temperature lowered to a more comfortable level.

 

[Lord Sia]

As he embraced her, the dragonette snuggled into his embrace and began nuzzling his neck again. As she did Cloud felt a tingling, almost burning sensation spread throughout his body, one which was almost, but not completely, entirely unlike the fires which had seared his flesh. It was... Comfortable, almost too comfortable.


When she responded to his query with a shrug he let out a sigh of frustration which was only partially feigned. Thinking over his options, he could only see one alternative. It was dangerous, but it was also the only way he could think of which would guarantee them enough food.


"Where is the closest village?"

 

[WolfOfProphecys]

"V-Village?" Moon whimpered softly. She didn't like humans, but it did seem their only option. She had never tried before, seeing as she didn't like fighting, and she wasn't built to fight, she was more of an agile dragon, a sneak attack creature, than a creature of brute force. Even though this all came to the same conclusion, she pointed with her tail, "That way" She said softly. She didn't want to leave his warm embrace, but knew she had to if they were going to find food, or get to the humans before the other dragons did. She gently drew away from him, watching him, wondering if they were going now. It was probably a good idea anyhow, but she was unsure about him wanting to go with her. What if he was just going to leave her here?

 

[Lord Sia]

"Yeah," Cloud grunted, not liking how scared she sounded. There had to be a story behind that, and his own recent experiences could all too easily imagine any number of reasons for her to fear the Enslavers' kin, each worse than the last. He forced himself not to say anything though, reminding himself that she'd tell him if she wanted him to know.


When she pointed out the way and left his embrace he felt a strange falling sensation in his gut, as though he'd hit a low pressure pocket mid-air. He had to remind himself that they couldn't walk all wrapped up in each other, but even then his side felt achingly empty with her just a single step away.


Shaking his head to dispel the confusing feelings, he snorted and began walking in the direction indicated by the dragonette. He made it half a dozen steps before it registered that she wasn't following. Turning his head back to glance over his shoulder he found her standing where she'd stepped away from him, staring at him with an almost desperate expression. The falling sensation returned with a vengeance and he quickly turned back forward before he lost all semblance of self-control.


"You coming or not?" He gruffly called back to her.

 

[WolfOfProphecys]

Moons eyes brightened, and she nodded eagerly, forcing herself to just walk, not run, over to him. She walked by his side happily, her footsteps silent, the opposite of his heavy steps. She didn't mind his loudness, and the amount of sticks he broke accidentally was making a racket, but she only smiled softly up at him as they walked. The younger dragon gracefully walked beside him, wings tucked to her sides and tail waving back and forth behind her. Her ears pricked, twitching about like a radar, listening for anything or anyone who might attack them.


As they walked, Moon realised she didn't know his name, and he didn't know hers, "I'm Moon by the way" She said softly as she trotted along beside him contently

 

[Lord Sia]

Fitting, he couldn't help but think, twin pools of silver imprinted in his mind. He quickly tried to shake off the image, but couldn't help but glance back as he replied-


"Cloud."


-meeting Moon's eyes, the pale orbs seeing right through him, piercing his very soul. He quickly turned back forward and continued walking in silence. He could not help but occasionally glancing at his side, however, to make sure the dragonette was still there. She never moved more than half a step away, stalking alongside him, easily keeping pace with him all while making no more noise than a cat. Her lithe body flowed sinuously over the ground, ears twitching in a bewitching manner, tail swaying back and forth with the movement of her hips-


It was a good thing for Cloud's ego that he had his injuries to blame for him stomping through the forest like an entire herd of aurochs. Otherwise he would have been forced to admit just how distracting his companion's presence was.


Desperate for something other to focus on, Cloud began working on a plan. That this required him to ask Moon questions, and thus kept her soft voice talking was just a bonus - if almost as distracting as watching her walk.


"Who protects them?"

 

[WolfOfProphecys]

Moon didn't seem to notice him watching her, but smiled softly each time he glanced at her and, when he wasn't looking, glancing at him. His large body and tough scales made him the opposite of Moon. He was more of a fighting dragon, that was clear in his eyes and posture. However if, as her eyes roamed his body, she smirked happily, then no one would notice, as she quickly turned back. She smiled as he spoke his name, but decided it didn't really suit him, but there must be an explanation for his name. SHe didn't ask though, as he spoke again,


"no one protects them" She replied softly

 

[Lord Sia]

The softly spoken answer made Cloud stop mid-step, an incredulous expression flickering across his face as he turned to look at his companion.


"No one? What of the flocks?"

 

[WolfOfProphecys]

Moon shrugged silently, "there was a flock.... That protected them. But they moved to a bigger town, where there was more food as a reward for protecting the town." She spoke softly, looking over at him. The small dragon continued on, "why?"