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Soul's Eternal Flame

CH. 5

Nikoli awoke first. The world was now grey with the approaching dawn. He felt Deni's warmth against him as she lay sleeping, curled next to him. He gently eased himself onto his side so he could see her. He smiled, upon seeing her form against his, smiling at the love he felt for her. He lowered his head to hers and gently nuzzled her. A soft purr escaped her throat as he touched her, as he continued she slowly woke and once she did, she yawned and stretched. She looked up at him and pressed her muzzle against his.

"Good morning my love." She said.

"Morning my sweet, did you sleep well?" He asked her.

Deni nodded and pressed her body against his, purring at feeling herself pressed against him. She closed her eyes again and just lay there with him, enjoying herself. Soon though, she felt his stomach rumble slightly, and she opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Hungry?" She asked.

Nikoli nodded and said, "We should probably hunt, so that way we will be fed and ready for our journey."

Deni nodded, and rose to her feet, with Nikoli following her. They both took to the sky and circled each other, Deni quickly took the lead and Nik followed closely as they started hunting. Since she knew the area better than Nik, she quickly found a good spot to circle and with a nod, they both gained altitude and watched the ground for signs of suitable prey. The wait wasn't long, as they spotted some heard animals grazing in an open field. They were large lizard-like animals, roughly the size of hippo's. Nik and Deni quickly folded their wings and plummeted down, occasionally half opening their wings to adjust the angle of their decent, as well as the speed, very quickly the crashed into the heard, each of them making their own kill. They ate their separate kills, and then moved off to a nearby river to drink and wash up. After they flew back to the cave where they were going to meet up with Sinra and his followers and waited for him.

Soon they saw him approaching. Nikoli shook his head, not realizing how different Sinra was now. The last time he had seen his brother, were some years ago, and Nikoli was much larger than Sinra. Now, Sinra was almost his size, in almost every way. When they landed Sinra stepped forward and said,

"Glad you decided to show, brother. I figured you wouldn't have believed me."

"I don't believe you. Nor do I trust you. But if you are telling the truth, then this may be the only chance I may get to avenge the death of my family. But, I do warn you. If anything happens to Deni, or you betray us, I will kill you.... Brother." Said Nikoli.

Sinra only smiled at this. "I would be exactly the same, if the situation were reversed. But trust me brother. I wouldn't bother to track you done for nothing. No, this was something that even I knew, was worth putting our feud aside for. I may hate you brother, but I do have honor. And avenging the murder of my brother's mate, and potential niece or nephew, is something I am honor bound to." He said.

Nikoli cocked his head to the side and smiled. "Brother, you are starting to sound like our father." He said with a small chuckle.

Sinra only bristled at this, and with a snort he turned around and spread his wings. "Enough of the banter. Let us leave so we can get there as quickly as possible." He said, and with that, he leapt into the air and flew off. His follower's in close pursuit. Nikoli looked at Deni and said,

"Stay close to me, and behind me. In case something happens. I don't trust any of them."

Deni came up to him and nuzzled him. "I will sugar." She said.

Nikoli nuzzled her back and leapt into the air and took off, Deni followed closely behind him. They all flew in a loose formation, Sinra and his gang in front, with Deni and Nikoli in the back. They flew for the better part of the day, until in the late afternoon, until Sinra started to descend, to which all followed. They landed in a small clearing and Sinra turned to the group and said. "We will rest here for the night. There is a river nearby if you want to refresh yourselves, and I'm sure there is game to be found if you are hungry." When he finished he turned from the group and headed to the edge of the clearing and lay down against a downed tree. His two cronies joined him, all the time Nikoli kept a watchful eye on them. They seemed to be talking occasionally, about what, Nikoli didn't know. But he didn't trust them. On the other side of the clearing, Deni and Nik stayed. They both were sitting down, with Deni leaning against Nik, and Nik had a wing draped over her, as she gently nuzzled him. After awhile Deni asked,

"So what's his story?"

"Who? Sinra's? Well, its long and complicated. He use to be a kind, gentle dragon. But something changed. He became bitter, and hateful. We began to clash, and then started fighting. Then when I took Anya as my mate, he truly began to hate me." He answered.

Deni nodded somewhat, then looked up to Nik,

"Why do you think he changed?" she asked.

Nikoli shrugged. "I don't know. I know father was probably part of it. My father isn't exactly the poster child for fathers. Ill tempered and stubborn. Everything had to be his way; we had to meet his standards every day. Sinra just got handed the short straw from day one. First being born albino, as he grew, he was smaller, and weaker than most dragon-children. My father was on his case every day. Sinra received a lot of whippings from father. I suppose that may have something to do with it." He said.

Deni looked over at Sinra. She felt pity for him now. She never had realized how it would have been so hard for them growing up. As she thought of this, she asked,

"What of your mother?"

"She passed away when we were young. She fell ill, and just never recovered. We had all hoped she would. Every day, father and Sinra took care of her. I was amazed to see this actually. For they seemed to grow close. But when she died, everything fell apart for the both of them. My father lost all sense of kindness, and Sinra just seemed to lose all hope in others. You see, despite father's constant abuse. Mother was the one that favored Sinra. She absolutely adored him, and he adored her. " He said.

Deni looked back over to Sinra, again feeling that pity for him. She watched as Sinra turned towards her, and she said something flash in his eyes. His expression softened a bit, then hardened as he glared back at her. Deni quickly looked away, and focused on Nikoli. That was when she noticed how similar they both were. Nikoli and Sinra were almost identical in size, and even in definition. They both were perfectly sculpted specimens for the dragon race. All their features were perfectly proportionate, their muscles large and well defined. The only difference between the two, other than Nikoli's black scales, and Sinra's white, were that Nikoli was noticeable larger than Sinra, their eyes were different. Nik's were that piercing emerald green that she loved, while Sinra's, were blood red, but still held that intensity.

They sat in silence for a long while, before Nikoli yawned and said, "I'm gonna go to sleep. Wake me when we leave. That is, if you don't join me."

Deni looked at him and smiled. She nuzzled him and watched as he eased himself down onto his side.

"I'm sorry my love, but I am to awake right now to sleep. You go ahead dear, I'll stay up." She said.

Nikoli nodded and closed his eyes. Soon after his breathing became more regular, and he was asleep. Deni watched him, smiling. Glad that she had finally found someone. She stood up and stretched, deciding to go to the river and take a drink. As she walked off, she scented for the water, once identifying the direction, she headed off in it direction, noticing that Sinra was gone. She briefly pondered where he was, but then gave up. After a short walk she was approaching the river, having just moved through the forest, she came around a tree, and almost collided with Sinra. She froze in place, startled at finding him there.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

Sinra looked at her and scoffed. "What do you think? I came here to drink." He said, then added under his breath, "My brother surely could have found another female with more brains than this one."

Hearing this, Deni bristled with rage and said, "You may not think of me as being intelligent, but at least I didn't have to jump my brother and his mate in order to talk to them."

Sinra snarled, "Watch your tongue female. It is not your place. You do not know anything about myself, nor do you know of what you are talking about." He said, then pushed pass her, and started to head back to the clearing.

"I know more than you think. I know that your father was abusive to you, and if you ask me. That is a poor reason to treat your brother like this. Even if he stole away a female." She said.

Sinra spun around so quickly that she took a couple steps back, fearing he was going to attack her, but it never came. He stood there, hate burning in his eyes as he glared at her. "You... Know.... Nothing." He hissed, his voice dripping with venom.

"Nik told me a lot. He told me of your mother, and how you use to be a kind and gentle dragon." She said, almost mocking him.

"Oh. Of course, HE, would tell you that. But I'm sure that, HE, never told you about how HE was the favorite, or how HE was never punished for his wrong doings. Or that it was always ME who took HIS punishment. I'm sure he left that little detail out. Or the fact that he would join our father when he beat me. Or that fact that the reason he gave me this scar,:" he then showed her the big scar he had on his neck, "Was because I fought my father, when he tried to punish me when Nikoli stole from the family horde." He finished, his teeth bared, and his claws extended in rage.

Deni froze, wondering if this was a lie, or if it was the truth. After awhile she looked at him. "I don't believe you." She said.

"Of course not. You've only known your mate for a couple of days." He said.

She stared at him, realizing that he was right, or at least, she shouldn't judge him before knowing the full story.

"I'm sorry. But tell me, why is it that you hate your brother so much?" She asked.

Sinra shrugged, and breathed a hissing sigh. "The beatings I received because of him. Or the fact that between the two of us, he was always the favorite. And not just between the family. All the females would flock after him. Me, I was a joke to them, and to him. It could also be the fact that he has forgotten the times I was there for him. When we were children and we were bullied upon by one of the neighboring families' older son. All I know now is that we know nothing of each other, other than hatred." He said, and then turned to walk away.

For some reason, Deni felt compelled to go after him. She rushed to get ahead of him, and blocked him from continuing on. Before he could say anything she pressed herself against him and nuzzled his neck.

"I'm sorry Sinra. I didn't know. I realize that I don't know much about you too, but if we are gonna do this, then I promise, to try to keep him in line, and maybe even hope to see you two mend your relationship." She said.

Sinra was shocked by her sudden actions. In truth, he hadn't felt a females touch before. He listened to her words, and again was speechless. Did he really want things to be normal between himself and his brother? He pondered over this, as Deni pulled away from him, and headed back towards the clearing. Looking back at him and smiling, it was that look that changed everything for Sinra. That look, it woke a desire in Sinra, which he hadn't felt in a long time, and a million thoughts ran through his mind. One of those thoughts, Sinra found to be absurd, but at the same time, the more he thought of it, the more it made sense. Could Deni have an attraction for him? He pondered this even more. Her touch was more than anyone would have expected from two acquaintances. He shook his head, it wasn't possible. He growled to himself, trying to forget about that thought. "It's nothing. Mind as well forget about it." He said to himself, and headed back to the clearing. Once he reached the clearing he sat back down next to his two colleagues. They both looked at him and snickered to each other.

"What?" He snapped.

Kaga, the red turned to him and sniffed. "Gee boss. It smells like you and your brother's mate were getting close." He said, and chuckled to which the green one, Svenn joined in.

Sinra lowered his head closer to the ground, his shoulders bunched like he was ready to pounce on them. "No you listen to me. To even think that I would commit such a dishonorable act, is punishable by death. Now, is that what you are thinking?" He asked, his voice was low and barely a whisper, but his tone was menacing and instantly struck fear into his companion's hearts.

"Nn..No boss. WwWWhheee were just joking." Stammered Svenn.

"Good. Now get some rest. We will be leaving in two hours." He said, and with that, he lowered himself down, curled up and closed his eyes. Svenn and Kaga looked at each other. Both realizing just how close they came to losing their throats.