FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 28

Kaleramek fought to keep his eyes open as he lay in the soft dirt. Aravarys had looked like he was healing well, but one morning he had woken up delirious. Kaleramek had endured another grueling flight to take him to Elise’s cabin. He had landed in her garden in the early hours of the morning, waking her. She had come out ready to berate him, but she cut herself short when she saw the white form on his back. She had taken Aravarys inside with Kaleramek’s help, and had been working tirelessly. Her house only had the one window looking out over the garden, so there Kaleramek had stood, peering through the window. By the time the sun began to rise, Kaleramek’s flight and subsequent vigil started to catch up to him. He collapsed onto the soft dirt of her garden. He had not the energy to move, no matter how furious Elise would be.

“Up! Up, you great lout!” Kaleramek felt a small boot kicking at his ribs. “How do you expect me to help the little one if you crush all my herbs?” Apparently, his fight to stay awake had not gone so well. The sun was well overhead.

Kaleramek groaned. He pushed himself to his feet and trudged out of her garden, flopping down right outside of her fence. He followed her with his eyes, watching her pick various plants and leaves. He had always found humans rather strange. They hadn’t any protective scales nor fur to keep them warm. They didn’t have the natural weapons dragons had. And yet, they had still managed to drive dragons away wherever they had tried to claim land.

“You think you can help him, then?” Kaleramek asked, his feverish worry all but burned away.

“Yes,” she said confidently.

“What’s wrong with him, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“It seems that an infection set in. I told you that you should have left him with me, but no, you just had to keep him on your plateau half a world away from here!”

Kaleramek closed his eyes. “I know. This is all my fault,” he whimpered.

Elise relented. “It’s not all your fault. Look, I know you just want to do what’s right. You always have. But you have to learn to listen to me. Sometimes I know what I’m talking about,” she said softly. She walked to him and gently put a hand on his nose. He flinched, but didn’t pull away.

“Everything is going to be okay. Everyone makes mistakes, alright? Don’t be too hard on yourself. Heaven knows I’m harsh enough for both of us.”

Kaleramek let out a low chuckle despite himself. “Heaven knows,” he repeated. She smiled.

“I hate to see you like this. You should go find something to keep you busy while I’m working,” she said.

“But what if you need my help?” Kaleramek protested.

“Need your help moping about?”

“I don’t mope!” Kaleramek protested halfheartedly.

Elise raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, maybe I mope a little,” Kaleramek conceded.

“A little? I can’t remember a single time I’ve seen you when you haven’t been mopey! You were mopey when we first met-”

“That was different!” Kaleramek interrupted.

“Regardless, you were mopey when you took me here. Whenever you need my help, you get mopey. Whe-”

“I get it, I get it,” Kaleramek chuckled. “I’ll go find something do do. Maybe fetch you some fresh meat. I won’t be far, though. So-”

“So if i need some help moping, I’ll whistle. Got it,” she said with a smirk.

He smirked back. He launched himself off of the ground, buffeting her with wind from his wings, nearly knocking her over. She shook a fist at him, laughing.

“Damn you, dragon!”

He circled up, broke through the treeline, and flew off over the trees.

He flew for almost an hour without finding anything. He didn’t spend much time this far from his plateau, and the lands around Elise’s cabin seemed barren of any good prey.

As he was flying over a gap in the trees, he saw a herd of deer bolt through the small meadow. They were panicked, and Kaleramek knew that he couldn’t catch them in that state. But the deer had to be running from something. Maybe some wolves, maybe a mountain cat, maybe-

“AHHH!”

Maybe not.

The roar shook the leaves around him. It came from directly below where he was flying. It had to have come from a dragon. Nothing else could be so loud, or have such blatant disregard for stealth and subtlety.

Dragons in his valley, especially this close to Elise, was never good news.

He ducked into a tight spiral and broke through the canopy, diving to the ground as quickly as he could. He pulled up at the last possible second and alighted softly on the mossy ground. He stood silently, listening for any sign of the dragon.

“I cannot BELIEVE that these damn deer keep getting away!” he heard the dragon shout from his left.

“Quiet! Please, if you keep shouting like that, you’ll scare away everything within a day’s flight!” A different dragon’s voice bled through the trees. This one seemed desperate.

Two dragons travelling together. He had won against worse odds.

Kaleramek stalked through the trees towards the voices. He would have to take care of the angry one first. With any luck, the desperate one would surrender or run away.

The angry dragon was still shouting a steady stream of curses, mostly directed at the deer.

“What if there are other dragons here? What if your shouting leads them right to us?” the desperate one said, still trying to calm the other. Hmm, that one’ll be trouble.

“Let them come!” the angry one shouted. “HELLO? ANYONE THERE? TWO DRAGONS, RIGHT OVER HERE!”

Kaleramek finally got close enough to see them through the trees. A Glaciaren and… a fairy tale? The Glaciaren was small, young. Its straight horns showed that it was male. Barely more than a child. The other was… neither Glaciaren nor Coruscaren. She had the deeply curled horns of a female, but she was massive! No wonder she was so confident. But she couldn’t be one of them. He could win. The purple dragon turned her back, and Kaleramek saw his chance.

“See? There’s nobody h- GAHHH!” the purple dragon screamed as he lept onto her back, His hind claws tore through her wings, and he slammed her head into the ground, and he heard the sickeningly satisfying crack of breaking bone. He climbed off of her. She lay on the ground, unmoving. A shame. He had expected more of a fight.

He turned to the Glaciaren, who was frozen in place. But, Kaleramek thought, he looked awfully familiar.

“…Thorolos?” Kaleramek asked.

“Nyrimyrinx, no!” Thorolos shouted.

Kaleramek spun around just as the purple dragon’s claws sliced down across his face. They cut deeply, ripping through scales and flesh. Kaleramek staggered back, clutching at his left eye. She tripped him with her tail and was on him in an instant. Kaleramek stared up at her with one eye. How… He had crushed her jaw! Had her jaw simply broken a branch? No, he knew… he had felt her jaw shatter. Oh… Oh gods...

She brought her claws to his throat. He tried desperately to push her off, but she was indomptable.

“Nyrimyrinx! Stop! I know him!” Kaleramek heard Thorolos cry.

“What? You know him? How?” Nyrimyrinx said.

“He helped save me from slavery! From the humans!”

“Wait, what?”

Kaleramek felt her weight shift for a moment. He twisted his body as violently as he could, throwing her off. Before either Nyrimyrinx or Thorolos had time to figure out what was going on, Kaleramek had taken off and started darting through the trees. He heard Thorolos shout something at Nyrimyrinx, heard her shout something back, and heard the rustling of leaves behind him.

He flew between branches, dodged tree trunks, trying to lose his pursuer. Several times, he smacked his wings into branches that he was sure he would avoid. He began to tire. His wings ached, his entire face was in agony, and the rustling was getting closer. A trunk appeared from out of the leaves in front of him, and he was barely able to avoid it. Several second later, he heard a massive crash and the rustling behind him quieted.

Cautiously, he rose above the trees and began to look for Elise’s cabin.

Chapter 29

Kaleramek saw a pillar of black smoke close by, and he blanched. Nyrimyrinx would have no problem finding Elise and Aravarys with that… smoke signal. He started flying towards it, but less than halfway there, he began to falter. The four deep cuts in his face were bleeding fast. He locked his wings out and let himself soar.

How had Thorolos met that devil-dragon? He had only heard of those things in myths. Her appearance had been suspicious, but he didn’t think that those things actually existed! She had shrugged off a broken jaw like it was nothing! Was she keeping Thorolos hostage? But… she seemed to listen to him. Hopefully, he could convince Thorolos to take her far away from them. Hopefully.

Half awake, he drifted down in the clearing around Elise’s cabin. He collapsed outside of her fence, and she walked out.

“So, how was your flight? I saw the blood from the prey. Thanks for the…” she trailed off as she glanced around, realizing there was no prey.

“Oh, Gods,” she whispered, and ran around him. He watched her until she passed to the left side of his face. He could hear her gasp, but he couldn’t see a thing.

“What happened? What…”

“Put out the fire,” Kaleramek said weakly. Elise hurried inside. A moment later, she came back out with her medical kit and a bucket of water.

“Did you put out the-”

“Yes.” She walked around the side of his head. “What happened to you?” she asked softly. He turned to look at her.

“No, keep looking forward,” she commanded gently.

“There are two dragons near here. One of them is the dragon I should have rescued instead of Aravarys – long story – but the other… She was a Kuuyari.”

Elise took the damp cloth and began to gently wipe off his face. Kaleramek clenched his jaw, trying not to scream.

“Kuuyari? I’ve never heard you speak of them before,” Elise asked as she continued to clean his wounds.

“I thought…” He sighed. “They were creatures from a myth. Something about how if you’re bad they’ll eat you. I thought that’s all they were. A story.”

“What makes them so… I don’t know, scary? Special?”

They were supposed to be strong, huge, impossible to catch. Shadows. This one… At first, I just thought she had an odd color. Purple is very, very rare among Coruscarens, but a few look purple under the right light. I took her down no problem; shattered her jaw, shred her wings. Not a minute later, she was back up, perfectly fine. She caught me off guard. It was like nothing had even happened to her. I never th- AAH!” Elise had soaked a cloth in spirits and pressed it into his wounds while he spoke. His face felt like it was being melted. She botted around each of the cuts, avoiding his… what had been his eye.

“Can you warn me next time you do that?” he asked through grit teeth.

“I’ve worked with you enough to know that if I told you I’d be cleansing your wounds, you wouldn’t let me. Hard part’s over. Now I’ve only got to stitch you up and slap some bandages on there, and you’ll be good as new!”

“I thought you said the hard part was over.”

“I was trying to be considerate. The spirits should have numbed you a bit, anyway.”

He let out a low growl. “Fine, do what you must. Just get it over with.”

He smelled the sharp, earthy scent of herbs being crushed. He felt a cool, smooth salve being smeared over the side of his head, and everywhere the mixture touched, his pain faded. He sighed, and let his head lay against the soft earth.

“… I don’t want to ask, but… is there any chance of… you know, recovering the… ah, the… eye?”

“I… I’m sorry. I don’t think so. Even minor injuries to the eye are… complicated, to say the least.”

Kaleramek closed his eye. He let her stitch his wounds and bandage the side of his head without further complaint. After she was done, she sunk down against his good side, and he wrapped a scaly forearm around her.

“Why do you always have to go out and get yourself hurt?” Elise asked him. She sounded exhausted.

“I was trying to protect you. You know how dragons are. If they found you and your cabin here, they’d raze it with ice and fire without a second thought.”

She sighed. “Way to shift the blame on me,” she joked.

He let out a soft chuckle. Elise started to laugh.

“When you do that, your whole chest rumbles! It’s like an earthquake!” she cackled.

Kaleramek smiled. But he was tired. Oh, so tired. The sun shone down on him, warming his scales. The soft dirt crumbled between his paws. Kaleramek could tell Elise was exhausted as well. As they lay in the meadow, Kaleramek could almost forget his troubles. He knew not how long they lay there, basking in the beautiful autumn afternoon, but he wasn’t about to move. He wished the moment could last forever.

He awoke to the soft thump, thump of two dragons landing in the dirt. Nyrimyrinx and Thorolos watched him cautiously from across the clearing outside of Elise’s cabin. The sun had barely moved through the sky, but he still cursed himself for dozing off. Elise was asleep against his side, snoring softly. He leapt to his feet, and Elise jerked awake.

“Wha…” Elise mumbled, but as soon as she saw the two dragons eyeing them from across the field she fell silent. Kaleramek flared his wings protectively, trying to keep her away from them.

“Here to finish the job, are you?” Kaleramek growled threateningly.

“Y-”

“No,” Thorolos said forcefully, glaring at Nyrimyrinx. “No, we most certainly are not here to do that.”

“Then what are you here for?” Kaleramek asked.

“Well… I wanted to apologize. This whole mess never should have happened,” Thorolos said.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Nyrimyrinx told him. She turned to face Kaleramek. “I wanted to kill you for just attacking us out of nowhere, but since I can’t do that, apparently,” Nyrimyrinx said, glaring at Thorolos, “I guess I’ll have to settle for demanding an apology.”

“Demanding? Demanding?” Elise shouted, stepping out from behind Kaleramek’s wing. “You should be the one apologizing! He was just trying to protect his home from two strange dragons!”

“Elise, please, d-” Kaleramek whispered, but she ignored him.

“You parade around in our valley, come to our home, and demand an apology?”

Nyrimyrinx regarded her curiously. “What is that?” she asked to no one in particular.

“She’s a friend,” Kaleramek said curtly, trying to get himself between Nyrimyrinx and Elise.

“Well, friend, your dragon, here? He attacked me from the trees. He didn’t see if we were friendly, he didn’t check if he knew us. If he had attacked Thorolos first, I’d be the only one here right now,” Nyrimyrinx said.

“Yes, I heard you mention that before, and even if it is true, what of it? If even half of what I’ve heard about dragons from Kaleramek is true, then Kaleramek attacking you is a completely normal reaction to trespassing. Anyway, Kaleramek wouldn’t attack a child before he attacked the looming beast protecting it. That’s not him.”

“What if Thorolos hadn’t stopped you? You would have killed me, seen the smoke from Elise’s cabin, and come here to destroy it and kill Elise. What-if’s will get us nowhere,” Kaleramek said.

“Still, don’t you think just attacking us without warning was uncalled for?” Nyrimyrinx asked.

“ Whatever debt he may have owed you has already been repaid. You cut his damned eye out! I can see that you’re perfectly fine; there’s not a scratch on you! ‘An eye for an eye’, right? Revenge? From what I can see, you still have both of your eyes. Kaleramek doesn’t,” Elise said.

Nyrimyrinx didn’t respond. The two groups stared each other down for what felt like ages. The breeze rustled through the trees, the sky was clear; in any other situation, the scene could have been peaceful.

They heard a creak from the cabin. A muffled crash. Aravarys stumbled out onto the porch, confused. He looked them all, contemplating: two that he knew, two that he didn’t. He fell off of the porch onto the soft grass, but the soft impact was enough to bring him to. He snapped his head up. Saw Elise.

A human.

He darted towards Elise, teeth bared, tail raised. Fury burning in his eyes.

Chapter 30

Kaleramek snatched Elise with his tail and spun her behind him as she gave out a surprised yelp. Aravarys tried to duck around him, but Kaleramek grabbed his horns, stopping him in his tracks. Aravarys writhed against Kaleramek’s claws in vain, but his serrated horns tore at Kaleramek’s pads. Kaleramek forced his head up until he was looking Aravarys straight in the face.

“What are you doing?” Kaleramek almost screamed.

“There’s a slave driver behind you!” Aravarys hissed. “Why are you protecting her?”

“She’s not a slave driver!”

“She’s not?” Aravarys looked confused.

“No, she’s a friend! She’s been helping you with your fever and your wing.”

Kaleramek felt the fight leave Aravarys a little too quickly. “I… I thought…” Aravarys said weakly.

Kaleramek let go of his horns, and Aravarys collapsed. Elise pushed against Kaleramek’s tail, still wrapped around her waist.

“Let… me… go!” she said.

“Oh, sorry,” Kaleramek said, unwrapping his tail. Elise rushed over to Aravarys. She fussed about him, feeling his throat, his face, his wing.

“Hmm… the weldbaum mustn’t have set in,” she mumbled quietly to herself.

“What’s wrong with him?” Thorolos asked, concerned.

“Why do you care?” Kaleramek asked harshly.

“You and he both helped me… If there’s a way that we can help, I’m sure we would,” Thorolos said. Nyrimyrinx, who had been watching on silently, suddenly looked alarmed.

“How could you two help? You can’t even catch a deer,” Kaleramek asked.

Thorolos snorted indignantly. “Nyrimyrinx can he-” He was interrupted by Nyrimyrinx smacking him with a wing.

“Ow! She ca-” Smack.

“I have… some experience with healing. I may be able to help,” she said, looking angrily at Thorolos.

“Yeah. That,” Thorolos said.

Kaleramek narrowed his eye at them. They were being awfully suspicious about Nyrimyrinx’s supposed medical qualifications.

“I’d love to get some insight on draconic anatomy,” Elise said. “I’m trying my best, but I can only experiment on Kaleramek so much without killing him.” Kaleramek looked over at her. She was inviting Nyrimyrinx to help?

“I have to… work alone. The ancient techniques are really… complicated. Can’t be distracted,” Nyrimyrinx said.

Kaleramek glared at her. What was she up to? Why would she even want to help? Kaleramek brought his head down to Elise’s. He was rewarded with a punch on the nose.

“Ow! What was that for?” he whispered.

“For not thinking to warn me about Aravarys! What if he had woken up while you were gone?” she whispered back.

“How was I supposed to know he would try to attack you?”

“Maybe – just maybe – waking up in a strange place alone with a human nearby, especially after being enslaved by humans, might just be a bit upsetting?”

“We’ll talk about it later,” he whispered.

“Bu-”

“Later. We have more important things to discuss,” he whispered looking over at Nyrimyrinx and Thorolos. Thorolos was standing slightly behind Nyrimyrinx, watching Aravarys, and Nyrimyrinx was trying – and failing – to not be totally obvious about her eavesdropping.

“Look. I know you don’t trust them. But I don’t see much of a choice. Why would either of them want to hurt Aravarys? If what you’ve told me is true, Thorolos owes you both a great deal.”

“You can help Aravarys, though, right? Why do we need their help?”

Elise sighed. “I don’t think I can. This infection has advanced too far. It’s gotten way more serious than I thought. I’ve only ever helped you with skin deep wounds.”

“But they’re being really weird about it!” he protested.

“It’s either let Nyrimyrinx try or let Aravarys die. I’m sorry, but you brought Aravarys into my care. It’s my job to make sure he recovers, and right now, the best way to do that is to let Nyrimyrinx take over.”

Kaleramek mulled the options over in his mind.

“Damn it. Fine. Help him,” Kaleramek said. He stalked off to the edge of the clearing, laying down against a tree and glaring at Nyrimyrinx. She gently dragged him into Elise’s cabin, with Elise’s help. Thorolos started pacing around outside of the cabin, peeking in every one in a while, and Elise walked out to where Kaleramek was lying at the edge of the woods. She saw the blood from his paws, and walked to get her kit again. She started to clean and bandage them.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Kaleramek asked.

“I didn’t want to worry you. There was nothing either of us could have done, besides find a draconic healer, which you went out and did anyway. Speaking of which, I know you want to protect this,” she said, gesturing to the valley around them. “I know you think you’re invincible or whatever, but you aren’t. If you keep getting into fights, eventually, there’ll be one you’ll lose.”

Kaleramek grit his teeth.

“Do you want me to just let dragons come and destroy this valley then?”

“No, just… Fighting isn’t the only option. If you had spoken with these two for even a second before attacking, you would have realized that they weren’t trying to invade or trespass or whatever you thought they were doing.”

Kaleramek sighed. He knew she was right.

“Okay,” he said quietly.

Elise smiled. “Now to wait and see if this Nyrimyrinx can-”

The door to the cabin burst open. Nyrimyrinx stumbled out onto the grass. She steadied herself and glanced around for Kaleramek and Elise.

“You owe me,” she said, swaying slightly.

“For what? There’s no way that you could have already-” Kaleramek began.

Aravarys walked out of the cabin behind her. His wing was completely healed, and he seemed far healthier than he had minutes before. Even the huge scar across his chest was gone.

“What in the…” Elise trailed off.

“What was that about us not being able to help?” Nyrimyrinx said proudly.

Chapter 31

He had woken up to a purple dragon stumbling out of the strange wooden door. He was in… what? Some sort of home? Everything seemed way too small. Last he remembered, he had been recovering from an injury… some broken limb? The purple dragon had seemed strange, but she hadn’t hurt him.

In a daze, he walked out of the house.

“What was that about us not being able to help?” the purple dragon beside him said.

“How in all the twelve…” Kaleramek breathed. “Are you alright?” A human was lying against Kaleramek’s side, which Aravarys found odd. Both of them looked shocked. Thorolos was there, too.

“Better than ever,” Aravarys said, smiling. And he really did feel better than he ever had. He couldn’t remember a time where he wasn’t sore or stiff or in pain, but now he felt perfect.

He flared his wings, and to his surprise, he didn’t feel the thick scar across his chest pull and stretch. He looked down. It was gone. Ah, okay. A dream. That’s why everything seems so out-of-place. Soon, he would awaken in his cell, and his discomfort would return. The dream seemed pleasant enough, though. Might as well enjoy it while it lasted.

I’m at home, and my parents are there, he thought furiously. He opened his eyes, but he was still in the clearing. Odd.

I’m at HOME, and my PARENTS are THERE, he thought even more intensely. Again, when he opened his eyes, he was still in the clearing. He frowned. He was dreaming, right?

“What did you do? What techniques did you use? That scar was nearly as old as he was; how did you heal it?” the human said, getting up and running towards Nyrimyrinx.

“How did you mend bone so quickly? It is some quirk or secret of draconic anatomy?”

Nyrimyrinx stepped away from the human less than half her height, flustered.

“Uh, I don’t know if-”

“Can you teach me?” the human finally asked, as excited as a hatchling preparing for her first flight.

“No. The whole… all the techniques are secret. Only my tribe knew them,” Nyrimyrinx said, trying to stop the onslaught.

“Ohoho,” she chuckled, “trying to make it difficult, are you? Alright then, keep your secrets. I’ll find them another way,” she said, running past Aravarys into her cabin, giggling maniacally.

Kaleramek got up from his place at the edge of the clearing and slowly walked towards Aravarys, favoring his front paws. Half of his face was covered in bandages.

“Uh… I think that-” Thorolos started, but a quick glance from Kaleramek froze him up. Kaleramek strode around Aravarys, inspecting him.

“What did you do?” Kaleramek asked the purple dragon.

“I fixed him.”

“Specifically. I’m not half the healer Elise is, but I know enough to tell that this isn’t the work of some ‘ancient technique’.”

“If she’s such a great healer, then why are you the one doubting me?” Nyrimyrinx asked.

“She didn’t see what I saw. Even if I told her that your jaw somehow just healed instantly, she didn’t see it. I doubt she even believed me.”

“Wait, what? What’s going on?” Aravarys asked.

“This Kuuyari somehow healed your wing, infection, scars, and left you feeling better than ever with some ‘ancient healing techniques’.” He wasn’t dreaming. He wasn’t?

“What does it matter how I healed Aravarys?”

“If your ‘techniques’ can heal deep scars, fresh wounds, and everything in between in minutes, can they heal my eye?” Kaleramek asked. Oh no. What happened to him while I was out?

“Pssh, in your dreams!” Nyrimyrinx said. Kaleramek stared at her silently.

“... I mean, even I have my limits. Supposing I could help, why would I?”

“The way I see it, we are at a bit of an impasse. Thorolos won’t let you kill me, and I can’t kill you. So, fighting isn’t an option. You scratch out an eye, then save a friend. We’re even. You need food. I just so happen to be the only one here that can hunt, but not like this. You use some ‘ancient techniques’ to fix my eye, I get us food, we’re even again.” Kaleramek’s voice was level, calm. Even so, Aravarys could hear his tail scything the grass behind them, could see the fire in his eye. Aravarys shrunk away from him a bit.

“... Well, that won’t work, because I can’t heal your eye,” Nyrimyrinx said.

“I guess we’ll all just starve, then,” Kaleramek said, still not backing down.

“Uh… I might be able to help,” Aravarys said. Five eyes swiveled towards him, and he shrunk back more. Kaleramek rolled his eye.

“Stop doing that. You won’t get anywhere being so passive.”

“F-fine. The humans keep their prey in these huge, walled-in fields. I walked by them almost every day. They looked fat and plentiful. And docile. They barely even shied away from us, even with our clanking and hissing. If I could lead you two there, then I’m sure you could get enough food to last until one of us learns to hunt.”

“That’s perfect!” Nyrimyrinx exclaimed.

“Really?” Aravarys asked excitedly.

“Yeah! That solves all of our problems! Well, except for your eye, but you were asking for it, and that’s not fixable anyway,” she said, taunting Kaleramek.

Aravarys looked over to Kaleramek. He looked mad… at him. Why would Kaleramek be mad at him for getting them food? It was Kaleramek’s fault he even said anything anyway.

“Wait, what about me?” Thorolos asked.

“You’re another chance of being spotted, of being captured, of being injured, and you can barely even carry your own weight, let alone enough food to make the risk worth it,” Nyrimyrinx said. Thorolos looked shocked at her words.

“I… I can… I can carry more than my own weight!” he sputtered.

“Well, we aren’t ready to go yet anyway. We all need to rest. So… go find somewhere else to sleep,” Kaleramek said.

Nyrimyrinx opened her mouth to argue, but Thorolos tugged on her tail.

“Let’s just go. It’s not worth it.”

Nyrimyrinx sighed and turned to leave. They walked off into the trees, disappearing into the brush. The door of the house opened, and Elise ran out, panting.

“Wait, where’d they go?”

“They left to go make camp,” Kaleramek said.

“Oh. There was nothing in there. No signs that she had even tried to start mixing or healing, no leftover ingredients or-”

“Yeah. Nyrimyrinx isn’t a healer,” Kaleramek said.

“What?” Elise asked.

“Do you really think that those were some ‘ancient techniques’? I told you, she’s a Kuuyari. You might not have believed me when I said that her jaw just healed, but it did, and so did Aravarys.”

“I believed you!” Elise said halfheartedly.

“Don’t worry about it, okay? You’re still a far better healer than she will ever be. She’s just… well, she’s a Kuuyari,” Kaleramek said, lowering his head to nuzzle Elise. She hugged his head for a second, closing her eyes. Aravarys stood to the side, uncomfortable. Elise opened her eyes, and noticed Aravarys’s discomfort.

“Oh! Uh, I’ve never properly introduced myself. I’m Elise. You know Kaleramek already. We’ve known each other since I was only a child… must’ve been almost twenty years ago now,” she said, stepping away from Kaleramek. Kaleramek raised his head and looked down at Aravarys.

“I know you don’t trust humans, but this one is alright,” he said, with the ghost of a smile.

“Uh, hello…” Aravarys said. “I’m… Aravarys?”

“Nice to meet you! Let’s get a little more comfortable before we continue. Can’t just stand around all night, can we?” Elise said, walking to a strange half-circle of logs with a blackened pit in the center. She sat on one, opposite the pit from him. Kaleramek grabbed a few logs from a pile besides the house and threw them into the blackened pit, shooting up ash and dust. A quick burst of flame later, and the pit was ablaze. Kaleramek went to lie behind where Elise sat, and curled his head up beside where she sat on the log. Aravarys trod to just outside the circle of heat cast by the fire. He tentatively lay down, keeping his eyes on Elise.

“No need to be worried. I’m not here to hurt you. I’m- we’re all friends here,” Elise said with a quick glance to Kaleramek. He snorted and rolled his eye.

“We aren’t going to hurt you, at least,” Kaleramek said.

Aravarys sat silently for a long moment.

“This whole thing just… it feels really surreal.”

“I guess it would, huh? Why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?” Elise said.

“Uhh… I…” Aravarys trailed off.

“Come on, it’s alright. What was your childhood like?” Elise asked.

“Elise, that really isn’t the question to be asking him. Aravarys, just to let you know, you aren’t getting any sleep until you tell Elise everything about your life,” Kaleramek said. Aravarys blanched.

“E-everything?”

Elise swatted Kaleramek on the nose.

“That’s not fair! I’m just trying to make him more comfortable around me!”

“It’s your fault for waking up before I could get you out of here,” Kaleramek told Aravarys, ignoring Elise’s protests. She huffed.

“Don’t worry about him. He’s just mad that he lost a fight for once,” she said. Kaleramek growled.

“Now that is unfair.”

“You asked for it,” Elise said, chuckling. “If you don’t want to talk about your life, Aravarys, you don’t have to. I guess I’ll just have to talk about mine instead. Maybe tell you some juicy secrets about Kaleramek!”

Kaleramek’s eye shot open. “If I hear one word about me, you are sleeping on top of the tallest mountain I can find!”

Elise started laughing in earnest now. A warm, comforting noise.

“Alright, alright. Maybe I’ll save those for Kaleramek to tell you himself.”

Aravarys thought for a moment.

“I grew up in the snowfields. It’s a ways north from here, through this whole mountain range.” Elise looked surprised that he had spoken.

“There’s somewhere more north than this valley?” Elise asked, somewhat sarcastically.

“Yeah. I loved it there…”

Before long, darkness began to set in, and Kaleramek fell asleep. Aravarys, however, recounted the days of his youth to Elise. Playing in the snow with his father, gliding for the first time, travelling to a “city”. Getting captured by humans and forced into slavery…

Chapter 32

In the extensive snowfields to the north of the Claws Mountains, a hatchling sobbed.

“FAAATHER!” the hatchling shouted through his tears for the millionth time. Father was supposed to come back. He was just supposed to be gone for a moment, off to fetch Mother, then come back, right?

It had been six days.

The first day, the hatchling slept in the cave, confused and lonely, a little scared, but not worried. Father would come back. He always did. When he awoke in the morning, alone in the cold, dark cave, a thin layer of dread began to settle over everything. By the second day, he had to break his promise to Father. He poked his head outside of the cave for just long enough to lap up a few mouthfuls of snow before running back inside. He didn’t want Father to catch him and yell again. By the fourth day, the hatchling was curled in the cave, keening in pain. He had never been so hungry in his life. It felt like someone was tearing his stomach open. He tried eating snow, and it took the edge off for a little while, but before long the pain was back, worse than ever.

The hatchling fought with himself. Father made him promise not to leave the cave, but he needed to eat. He needed something, anything. He decided he would wait for two more days, and if Father still wasn’t back, the hatchling would look for something to eat and then come right back.

Two days later, the hatchling stood at the mouth of the cave, surveying the sky through blurry eyes. Looking one last time for Father. After screaming for him a million times, the hatchling finally forced himself to leave. He turned into the mountains. Less than twenty paces out, he turned back and sprinted into the cave. He sobbed. What was he supposed to do?

An hour later, the hatchling tried again. He snuck away from the cave, wracked with guilt. Every few paces, he looked back. At the first bend, where he would lose sight of the cave’s mouth, he watched the horizon for Father. He had to come back, right? He always did.

The hatchling shook his head. He would only be gone for a moment to find food, then he was coming straight back. He forced himself to turn around and continue on the path that Father had taken him down countless times. Somehow, the path seemed longer now. He walked down it, keeping an eye out for… food? The hatchling didn’t really know what he was looking for specifically, but he knew what seal looked like. He kept his eyes open for seal.

Deep into the mountains, the hatchling stepped into a puff of snow. Something sharp stabbed into his pad, and he jumped back. Cradling his paw, he smelled meat nearby. He swept away the snow puff, and beneath it was a ribcage. It looked fresh, and there were guts still inside of it. The hatchling wrinkled his nose. That was his least favorite part. The hatchling broke off a rib, licked at the marrow, and tried to get some of the meat off of the bone. He could barely even taste it.

He decided that he would continue on. If he got really desperate, he could come back for it.

Further along the road, he smelled more meat. His stomach ached at the scent, and he followed it blindly. Ahead of him, a small wisp of black smoke rose from within a thicket of trees. The hatchling stepped through the brambles, ignoring the thorns. He stepped through the treeline into a clearing.

Within were two strange creatures sitting around… some sort of moving, orange plant. The plant crackled and hissed, but sitting above it was a chunk of meat. The two strange creatures turned their heads and jumped up. They barked something to each other, but the hatchling didn’t pay them any mind. He crept very slowly towards the meat. One of the creatures stepped forward and brandished some sort of shiny stick, shouting. The hatchling flinched back and instinctively hissed at the aggressor. Instead of a threatening noise, his hiss let out a stream of frost. The creature’s stick froze, and he dropped it. When it hit the hard, icy dirt, it shattered. The creature clutched his arm, screaming. It, too, had frozen and turned an icy blue. He took a few careful steps backward. He tripped over a log that was sitting around the orange plant. The creature fell, and his arm, like the stick, shattered. The creature moved no more.

The other creature stumbled back. He fell, and pushed himself away from the hatchling. Again, the hatchling paid him no mind. He padded forward just as slowly towards the hunk of meat. He arched his neck and tried to grab it, but the orange plant bit his neck. He hissed at the plant, and when the frost hit it, it shrunk down to nothing. The hatchling grabbed the meat and devoured it. It tasted amazing, even better than seal! Still, though, it wasn’t enough. The strange creature, even now crawling away from him, had the smell of the meat on him. The hatchling crept towards him. The strange creature hid his face away and curled up, making a strange, fearful noise. The hatchling nosed around the bags strapped to his body. One of them smelled of the meat much more strongly than the others. He nosed it open and – to his delight – inside was another, much larger chunk of meat. He took it out and started to eat it. The creature slowly uncovered his face and looked at the hatchling devouring the meat at his feet.

When the hatchling had finished, he felt much better. “Do you have any more?” he asked. The creature flinched away, and said something in a strange language Aravarys had never heard. He crawled to his companion. The companion groaned something. He didn’t seem dead, but the strange creature whispered some things into his ear, drew a shiny claw-thing, and cut his throat. The creature knelt, and bowed his head to the ground, chanting something. The hatchling watched curiously, his hunger stated for the moment. What were these creatures?

The creature sheathed his claw, glancing over his shoulder at the hatchling, and rummaged around his companion’s bags. He drew out another chunk of meat, and threw it to the hatchling. He ate it hungrily. When he looked up, the creature was gone.

He glanced around. He could hear the creature stamping through the woods, crushing leaves, breaking branches. Maybe the creature had more meat.

He followed the trail left by the creature, sprinting through the trees. Suddenly, he burst out of the trees onto a snowy, declining plain. He could see the creature, maybe a few hundred paces away, sprinting towards a weird circle of… ground-trees? Several light brown, painted triangles jut from the ground. He ducked into one of them, and all was quiet again. The hatchling ran after the creature. As he ran, his wings instinctively opened and flapped during each bound. While they couldn’t lift him yet, they could certainly push him through the air. The hatchling skidded to a stop in the center of the circle. There were four of them. He couldn’t remember which one the creature went into.

“Hello?” the hatchling asked. “Do you have any more food?”

Silence.

The hatchling walked to the ground-tree in front of him. He nosed open the flap. There was an animal skin lying on the dirt, but other than that, it was empty. Oh. They’re caves!

The second cave was empty.

As was the third.

He walked to the fourth cave. Before he could open it, the creature burst out, screaming. Before the hatchling knew what was going on, the creature swung a shiny stick at him. It struck his chest and sheared through scales and skin alike. Blinding pain blossomed from the cut. The hatchling staggered back.

Fell down.

Two more of the creatures, smaller than the first, exited the cave. One spoke to the first in hushed tones. The second began to cry. But the hatchling couldn’t hear. His lungs wouldn’t work. He couldn’t breathe. He saw the snow in front of his chest turn red. His vision darkened. The hatchling tried to scream, but no sound came out.

Everything went black.