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The foothills of the mountains proved to be ample hunting ground to satisfy Lathera’s desire to try her hand at taking down prey that was a bit challenging. The first day was the hardest, they hadn’t been able to hunt easily as most of the area held the risk of being spotted by any passing dragon that visited the upholder. They had made do with the supplies they had brought with them, the dried meat had been filling, but it hadn’t been terribly exciting. They had spent time moving out of the area that could be claimed by the Tyr and towards the mountains that were considered to be free territory. It wasn’t far enough away for her tastes, but it was at least far enough away that they could move without fear of being spotted. The forest turned into evergreens that shaded the sun from the pair of drakkas as they moved along the path and Lathera prummed in pleasure as she spotted the start of the rocky mountains and the hint of different terrain.

She had always imagined seeing this when she was a sworn Firemaiden. She had thought that she would one day be in the upworld protecting the interests of the Lavadome, at least she had when she had been young. It had seemed a foolish dream to consider now, especially when she knew just how confining those vows could be those took them. No amount of laudi would make that life appealing to her now. She sniffed the air and took in the rich sweet scents on the air, gauging just how far they had come. They had certainly walked further in the last four days than they had in their time in the Lavadome. It wasn’t just the walking that was exhausting, either, it was the fact that they were crossing terrain of all sizes and shapes that made it hard on their bodies. Her sii felt as if she had half a dozen thorns in them from the day before, a fact that required dexterous help of her teeth and tongue to remove each evening.

“It would have been easier if we had done this once our wings had become uncased.” Takkas commented and sniffed along the ground, echoing her thoughts uncannily. “We could have simply gone up and over.”

“We will, there is a valley just beyond the mountains that we can settle in. We won’t actually cross the mountains until our wings are uncased.” Lathera tilted her head with a slow smile. “I was speaking to one of the Drakwatch and he said that old BiNeas used to spend time in the valley when he was still interested in the upper world. It’s supposed to be quite lovely and links to one of the humans trade routes.”

“I shouldn’t wish to be near the humans.” Takkas turned her head slightly and her voice held a slight tinge of worry. “They aren’t like our thralls. They have assassins.”

“It’s not that close, but close enough that we can earn coin if we put our minds to it. We no longer have the largess of the Tyr to provide us metal.” Lathera sniffed the air and playfully moved to one side to rock against her companion.

“We can give them protection and keep the thieves away from them?” She asked, but Lathera was only watching as there was a hint of movement along the outer edge of the forest.

“Or simply charge them to use the road.” She suggested distractedly and narrowed her eyes with interest along the edge of the tree line. “Hungry?”

Takkas made an inquiring sound as she watched the shifting movement along the outer edge of the forest. She started to shift back and forth, a slow movement as she narrowed her eyes and took in a breath of air, trying to sample the scent of whatever prey was in front of her. So far she had taken down quite a few deer, but she had heard that there were large goats to be found in the mountains, ones with thick horns that were a challenge even for a dragonelle, much less a drakka. She was eager to try herself against one. Her mother had always said that she behaved too much like a drake, it wasn’t seemly, but she truthfully didn’t care as long as she was able to enjoy herself. Her friend moved nervously, the legs rocking a little bit while she leaned forward and tried to see whatever it was that she was peering at so eagerly.

Lathera tensed her muscles as there was a glimpse of pale gold beyond the trees, the rippling movement perhaps fur and hide that had her tail lashing back and forth. She lowered her fore body and started to tip forward, her claws flexing against the ground slightly before something moved across the path that made her stiffen up. The moment she saw the flash of scales she shoved Takkas to one side, pushing her companion into the shrubbery with a lash of her tail. She used her bulk to keep her companion in the shadows as a drake padded out into view with a stretch and arch of his back. His scales were gold colored with a hint of silver along the outer edge, glittering brightly as he walked with his nose low to the ground and was huffing at something with an intense look on his features. They were too far away to hear him clearly, but Takkas sucked in a breath and shrank back against her side.

We’re not gone illegally, there is nothing that can be done except they might try to convince us to return or tell the Firemaids how we left. She thoughts fiercely and kept herself close down against the line of his friends side.

The drake wasn’t one she recognized, but he had to have been from the Lavadome, especially when they were still technically in the Upholder’s territory. Perhaps he was one of the Drakwatch being sent up for one mission or another. There was no war happening here, but it wouldn’t be the first time the Tyr had sent up commands when he thought trouble was going to start brewing. He didn’t remain for long, he sniffed a bit and then continued with a purposeful trot that made her relax slightly and turn her head to glance down at her friend. Where there was one drake, there would be others, it was simply a matter of fact and that meant they needed to start moving into the mountains or they’d complicate things.

“I think our best bet is to push on through the night to make it into the mountains.” She whispered softly as the faint sounds of the passing drake filtered back to them. “If the Drakwatch is on the move, we’ll end up bumping into them through the night. They love night patrols.”

“True.” Takkas flicked her tail and glanced back towards the path nervously. “We can camp at the base of the mountain and continue in the morning?”

“No, better to get through tonight, it’ll be an adventure. Besides, there are quite a few drakes that like the idea of leaving the Lavadome, what if we end up saddled with one of them?” She grimaced and gave her head a shake. “Let’s got a move on, we’ll be fine. You know the Drakwatch are rubbish at catching anyone on the move.”

Takkas laughed softly, but didn’t disagree as they edged out of their hiding space and Lathera began to make plans on how they should continue on. Her mind was already dancing with the idea of a rich valley with a river or lake, somewhere quiet and wild where there was little hint of society. Perhaps they could find one of the old hominoid settlements, they frequently had buildings that were just as good as a cave for a pair of adventurous drakkas.

~ ~ * ~ ~

Takkas was bumbling through the darkness and trying not to yelp every time her claws were stubbed on an errant rock or tree root. The moonless sky was so dark that there was little they could do to get through without a few stumbles. She heard several drakes in the distance, they had passed by at least six of them in the past few hours, but she wasn’t sure why they were here. The Drakwatch wasn’t out and on the move that often, at least not unless there was a battle brewing, but that made her wonder if the Firemaids had come as well. It nagged at the back of her mind as they pushed through the evergreens and she reached out to grab Lathera’s tail in her jaws as her friend began to speed up. She didn’t want to be left behind, if she lost her, there’d be no finding the drakka until the sun had come up and she didn’t want to spend a cold night in the forest.

The light shifted as they stepped forward. There wasn’t enough light to really see by, but it was enough that she was able to side step a rock and her friend let out a happy noise as the steps grew faster. Takkas allowed herself to be pulled forward, stepping with a little more surety, casting an eye up at the star filled sky. Nathean would be following still, hopefully, she knew that he was supposed to follow until they stopped for the night and then pick out his own camp, but now she had to wonder just how long it would take for him to figure out that they weren’t stopping. If it was dark for her, the human would be struggling and fighting to even know what direction he was heading. It would be very possible he would run right into the muzzle of the Drakwatch and there would be little hope for him then. They’d either snap him up as a snack or herd him back to the Lavadome, both of which would rob her of his company. If she could have stopped, just for a griff-tchk and then she might have found a discreet way to mark their trail for her thrall to follow, but there was no chance of that.

She followed her companion through the low mountain pass and instantly became aware of the fact that they had made a grave error. The rocks were sharp and slid beneath her paws, causing her to lose her footing frequently, and she could hear Lathera was suffering a similar fate. She felt a dozen small cuts on her ankles as they made their way higher, trying to feel out the way the path would take them from the bottom of the mountain towards the valley that they were trying to find. She was tired, she was breathing in short pants as he used sii and saa to lunge forward and give a jump upwards, scrabbling up and over one of the boulders that her larger companion had managed with some amount of ease. She didn’t know what time it was when she got onto the other side, her only gauge was the fact it was still dark and there was no hint of pale dusk coming to chase away the shadows. Her breathing came in labored bursts as she continued on.

“Takkas.” The hissed voice was her only warning before her nose slammed right against the green scaled haunch and she jerked her head up, blinking her eyes to try and shake away the exhaustion.

“Are we there?” She asked, only to blink as Lathera spit up a torf to cause a flicker of light to surround them, barely enough to make out the green scaled drakka, but it seemed like the fiery sun after so much darkness.

“Very nearly, we can stay here. I don’t think any of the Drakwatch will venture into the mountains, they’re just going to patrol the Uphold.” Lathera sounded quite sure and hissed a little bit, tilting her head down to lick her ankle. “I think my sii are nothing but scrapes and bruises. I should have stopped before we hit that last stone.”

“I’m no better.” Takkas spoke ruefully and gave her head a slight shake. “I think I might have lost half my scales on the path up here.”

“Well, we made it this far.” Lathera prummed and turned her head to give her shoulder a light push. “We’ll have to live rough tonight, but it’s clear and I think there will be little harm. Tomorrow we can continue to the valley and the river there, we’ll be able to bathe and relax.”

The larger drakka settled down with a slow smooth stretch, sliding her body with a slight sensuous caress right along Takkas’ side. She shivered slightly in reaction, but her passions were stilled by the sheer amount of exhaustion she felt from their midnight travels. She wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep, not twine herself around her fellow drakka. She nestled herself against the warmth that curled against her, the way that the stomach and chest pressed against her back was both familiar and thrilling. She might have compared it to the feel of when her mother had wrapped round her when she had been a hatchling, but it didn’t have the overtones of innocence to it. Instead, it was delightful to feel the sii and saa clutching around her and pulling her in close. The edge of her fringe rubbed beneath the jawline while she settled, prruming softly to herself before lifting her head up to nuzzle against one of Lathera’s griff.

She still hurt, her body was throbbing with pain, but it was an ache that she could push to the back of her mind as she let exhaustion wash over her. She felt the warmth of the body rising and falling behind her as Lathera seemed to effortlessly slip into dreams without so much as a twitch to show that she was struggling to find her way there. Takkas wanted to join her, but in the back of her mind she thought about Nathean. The human would be following in the dark, struggling to find a place to camp, struggling to find where she had gone. She felt a pang of worry, one that was unseemly for any dragon to feel for one of the hominoids, but it was still there.

Perhaps he will remain in place, I can find a time to slip away from Lathera and guide him up the mountain. He knows we are going to the valley. The last thought caused her to relax, losing some of her fear. He knew where she was going, which direction, he would be following at his own pace. It was just a matter of time.

As the torf extinguished and she was plunged into darkness again, she felt her body relaxing and her mind falling into darkness. It had been a long day, and tomorrow they would begin to mark out their territory. She slipped to dreams with the warm feel of Lathera at her back and the sound of night insects and birds singing around her.

~ ~ * ~ ~

Lathera arched her back slightly and strained her shoulders as she woke up and almost immediately wanted to whimper. Her muscles ached in a way that they hadn’t since she had started in the Firemaids. She stretched herself out slowly, working the kinks as Takkas shifted and curled herself tighter into a ball to sleep. The green scales had several black marks where blood had thickened and scabbed over. Takkas had suffered far more from their climb than Lathera had, which made her grimace a little in guilt before padding away as softly as she could. She didn’t want to wake the other drakka up, let her sleep as long as she could so that when she woke up she would at least be well rested before she realized how sore she was.

_ I should have stopped us long before I did._ She thought and gave her head a shake. It’s not as if we are fugitives, not truly, but I just couldn’t stand the idea of the Drakwatch finding us.

She left her lover and took a look around at the area they had stopped in. It wasn’t that terribly promising, there were too many rocks to make another night of staying here, but the path they had taken was partially made from shale torn rocks that were scattered along the pathways. She gave a flick of her tail and stretched slowly, letting her eyes slide towards the path where it fed between two massive boulders that had looked like skulking dragons the night before. She had been half giddy with exhaustion when she’d finally stopped, a fact that let her know that she must have dragged Takkas to the very brink of her physical strength. She rolled her shoulders, feeling the faint bulge of her wings where they were starting to press up against the line of her back. They weren’t showing yet, but another month or two and they’d start to bulge just beneath the skin.

Lathera heard the faint voice of her teach from the Firemaids lecturing her on the care a drakka should take when she settled herself down to try and repair the worst of the damage the night hike had taken. The wounds first, though she detested using her tongue on them, it still scraped the old clogged scab free so that the blood trickled down to wash away the worst of the dirt and filth. Broken scales had to be removed, her talons sharpened where the rock had blunted it. There were half a dozen things she had to see to, most of them good sense to keep away infection and care for her scaling, but others were small vanities she allowed herself. She could admit she didn’t want to look like some unruly drake in front of Takkas.

“Oh fire and acid that hurts!” Takkas’ voice came in a groan and a scattering of pebbles that caused Lathera to turn her head. “I think even my aches have aches!”

“You’re not the only one.” Lathera turned and gave a slightly rueful head tilt. “I didn’t think we had done so much damage, but I don’t think it’s that bad.”

Takkas hissed and shivered, shifting and slowly working her sii out as if afraid even the slightest movement would cause her renewed pain. She was scuffed with dirt and her scales were streaked with bruises and blood. It made her flinch unhappily. Takkas was normally well groomed. She had never been so primped as those in the Imperial Halls, but she had always had scales carefully cleaned up and polished. She was never filthy or dirty for very long, certainly there had never been a time she had seen the drakka fall asleep covered in mud. Lathera’s tail snapped unhappily, the guilt making her irritable. She shouldn’t feel guilty, Takkas had wanted this life as well, they were both Firemaids! They were set to have become Firemaidens, what was some dirt and scrapes to them? They had taken more when they had attacked the Drakwatch!

She dismissed that unhappy feeling and soothed some of her guilt by padding over to lick out, helping to tend the worst of the wounds while her friend began to uncoil herself. She could see the faint lines of pain showing around her eyes, the flinching when the tongue slid this way and that. The other drakka began to relax after too long, leaning over to attend her friend with the same sort of rough grooming. It wasn’t nearly as deft as a thrall was when they used their clever tools, but certainly it was more intimate and pleasurable. She could taste the familiar scent of metal and fire that clung to Takkas, each breath drawing in the warmth of it with a pleasure that made her prrum softly to herself as she settled nearly chest to chest. Their scales lightly brushed against each other, scraping and dancing back and forth as she tried to massage out some of the aches along her lover’s shoulders.

Why did we ever have thralls? I should think that mated pairs would revel in such groomings! She thought to herself scornfully and let her tongue lap out slowly, dragging just behind the griff, right along the pulse of the beating hearts

. ~ ~ * ~ ~

Takkas couldn’t decide if she were enjoying herself or if she were so sore that she wanted to lay down and sob. Her body ached with a burn that ran along her muscles and made it impossible to think about anything except the way that she was trying to relax from the small spasms that continued to assault her. She had woken up and almost immediately wanted to will herself back to blissful ignorance about how badly she had used and abused her body. There was nothing more painful than shifting muscles that had been stiffened up by the cold and the small cuts were even worse. She hadn’t felt this bad the time she had taken a fall down one of the hills, nearly dashing her chin against the rocks had bruised her back badly enough that she had been terrified she’d hurt one of her still encased wings. The only balm was the fact that she hadn’t woken up alone and she had certainly not woken up as bad off as it could have been.

She closed her eyes as much as she could, letting herself relax, her breathing came in short smooth movements while she lapped out again. The smooth strokes pushed and danced while Lathera continued to grow more languid in her touches. It was so strange to clean up her lover this way, but she found it enjoyable, especially as Lathera used her muzzle to grind and rub against her aching shoulders. The breath puffed against her warmly, causing her to nearly roll and rock in place, her eyes lidding shut before she opened her jaws with a soft sound. She tilted her head back before there was a playful bat of a muzzle against her own. She barely opened her eyes before a warm slick tongue pushed out between her lips and plunged into her maw in a wet slimy intimate kiss.

She swallowed a noise of shock, her nostrils flaring open wide as the tongue lavished her with powerful strokes back and forth, twisting and coiling this way and that. The light drags pulled backwards until she moved her own tongue out to chase the touch. Her body flushed warm with interest despite the fact she was aching badly enough that she wanted to curl up in a ball. She let herself be drawn into the attention, sliding closer until her chest was settled right against the other females. She felt her hearts speeding up with their beating as the warmth of the hot slippery tongue pushed in deeper and began to explore inside of her muzzle in a way that felt deliciously depraved and intimate. The tongue tip actually pushed far back enough to nearly caress against the line of her fire bladder, making her shiver and a new tremor of delight press over her.

She tried to return the attention, her own tongue darting out, pushing together as she tilted her muzzle to one side. She knew that humans showed affection this way, but that only made it all the more depraved that they were doing it. She explored with slow rubs, tasting the mixture of saliva and simply the taste of her companion on her tongue. It was spreading over her senses, filling her muzzle, her breathing came faster, delighting in the way that it was pressing over her and rushing over her senses. She groaned out, the sound a soft noise that thrummed from low in her throat and rose upwards. The touch grew between them, making her arch upwards as she felt her vent starting to grow slick, throbbing in time with her beating hearts. Her paws moved, reaching to slide over Lathera’s to press the intimacy closer between them.

“Ahh!” She hissed and jerked her head back as the movement pulled the aching muscles along her shoulders and caused Takkas to suck in a swift breath. They cramped, the pain shot down her side and made her entire body got rigid.

“Sore?” Lathera prrumed with sympathetic amusement, slowly licking along her muzzle sensuously. “I should have been more considerate.”

“If I weren’t so sore..” Takkas trailed off suggestively before she felt her scaling heat up as she tried to work out the cramp. “I don’t think anything is torn, just overused.”

“There’s a river in the valley, if it’s close, we could both soak in it. It won’t be warm, of course, but even cold water can be pleasurable when you ache.” Lathera leaned in and nuzzled in along the underside of her griff tenderly. “I’ll go and see if I can figure out how far away we are.”

“That sounds perfect.” She arched a little, her back aching when she shifted a little too much. “I’ll be right behind you.”

“Don’t worry.” Lathera snorted with amusement and stood up, though she could see the other drakka was just as sore. “You rest up a bit, we still have to find our breakfast, and at least one of us shouldn’t be marching around.”

Takkas didn’t argue, she didn’t feel like getting up at the moment, not with the cramp finally shaking away and letting her get a bit of free movement of her shoulder and side again. She arched and shuddered slightly while she felt the throb along her saa. Lathera was doing better than she was, but not by much. Still, they had likely made it through the worst of the path already, which meant they should have an easy day of it and this would end in their own place to relax and spend their days in. It let her breathe out a sigh of relief as she began to work her way back up onto all fours. She took it slowly, refusing to rush and feel a blinding cramp rob her of the slow progress that had her swaying back and forth in place. Her breathing came a little faster as she got her legs beneath her and locked them firmly in place, flicking her tail behind her with a firm twitch.

She was working slowly, stepping and getting the stiffness from her muscles when she heard the very faint sound of rocks being moved in the distance. She flicked her head up, the sound was far too light for it to be Lathera, but it still didn’t alarm her as she gave her head a shake back and forth. Her nostrils flared a little bit just as a short form burst into view, crashing out from behind some of the rocks and falling nearly on his face as two flat hands grabbed to try and keep himself from doing damage on the rocks and dirt below. The human’s face was flushed red with exertion, his eyes wide and white looking as he jerked about with clothes that looked as if they had been torn in nearly half a dozen places! He was so rough looking, that Takkas simply stared without realizing who it was, not until his head tilted back and recognition flooded his features.

“Mistress!” Nathean hauled himself up onto his feet, relief flooding his expression as he swayed in place, struggling to remain upright on the uneven ground.

“Nathean!” She hissed, panic was rising as she glanced to where Lathera had disappeared only moments ago. “What are you doing here? I commanded you to keep behind me!”

“I know-“ He started, stammering in drakine as he did so. She felt her griff rattle with irritation as she advanced on him, ignoring the ache that was running down the line of her spine.

There was relief at seeing her thrall here. She had been half sure he would die in the darkness or get lost or simply run away. She had woken up with the knowledge that he might not be here waiting for her, and she had resigned herself to that fact. No matter how dear he was to her, there was no denying that he was still simply a thrall and nothing more. A short lived human could be little more than a pet to her, but it still hurt to think that his lovely voice and knowledge had gone with him. She refused to let him see that, of course, it would only make him feel as if he had the upper hand on her and no thrall could be trusted with that. That was the way of trouble, something that she refused to fall into, no she would simply have to make sure that he understood his place in the world. No matter that he had obviously had a hard time on the mountain.

“Go on! Hide! If you are spotted you will end up as a meal!” She commanded with a snort, glaring down at him.

“Mistress, please, you must-“ He started and she rumbled a warning, rattling her griff loudly enough to see him shrink back instinctively.

I can’t believe he would approach me like this! She thought with more than a bit of irritation bubbling up in the back of her mind. I don’t know why I thought a human could keep an order in his head longer than a few minutes, but I had hoped he was somewhat intelligent!

“TAKKAS GET BACK!” Lathera’s roar filled her ears a moment before a rush of emerald scales burst past her in a wild dragon-dash.

Takkas had no other warning that her companion had returned, nor any chance to yell out to stop the wild dash as the drakka charged the human with deadly intent. Instead of trying to call out, she whipped into action with the same efficiency she had always shown in the Firemaids and what had made her promising as a Firemaiden. She swung her tail out and hit the human hard, sending Nathean flying across the ground with a shrill scream. She knew it had to have hurt him, but better he be hurt a little bit now instead of hurt a lot by the enraged drakka that was trying to run him down! At least he might survive her tail, he wouldn’t survive Lathera if she was out for blood.

~ ~ * ~ ~

Lathera skidded to a halt and swung around angrily to see the human flung away from her. She had come back from scouting ahead to see Takkas standing only feet away from the strange hominoid, and the moment she had seen it her mind had been flooded with a hundred stories of assassins sent to kill nesting mothers and large dragons. A drakka would have hardly been a hard kill and she had lunged into action before the worst could happen, but now… now she was gaping as she saw her companion stepping back with a pained expression on her face. It was horrified, scared and embarrassed all at once as she tilted her head down and deliberately tried to hind behind her fringe instead of facing her friend. The drakka hardly knew what to think, she simply shifted her eyes to the human that was stumbling up from the ground, blood showing in the corner of his mouth and his clothes slightly torn. Clothes that looked familiar, very familiar. Too familiar.

“A thrall?!” She accused, bristling as she swung her attention back to Takkas. The drakka refused to look at her in the eyes. They remained turned to one side and shifted down slightly. “You brought a thrall with you?!”

“He’s not a thrall, not exactly.” Takkas answered softly, the voice very meek. “He isn’t a body-thrall, he’s the one that used to read the old scrolls-“

Lathera was barely listening, she was struggling to come to terms with the fact that Takkas had brought a thrall with her! They had both been in agreement that they wanted to make it in the world together on their own the way a drakka should. When they became dragonelle they would find their wings and set themselves up with a fine lair away from the fighting and sniping of the lavadome. Most especially, they weren’t going to have anything to do with humans unless they had too! That was supposed to have been one of the corner stones to their leaving and now she was staring at the broken word and trying to fight back the wave of angry nausea that was rising in the back of her throat. Her fire bladder began to pulse angrily and she tried to suck down a breath to keep herself from saying something she would regret. Through it all, Takkas continued to talk.

“..He would be killed. No one there cares for a thrall as anything more than a set of hands, but he is quite clever and he is able to read.” She was finishing up saying, crouching as the human gathered himself up.

“But he’s a thrall! What will you do if he brings hunters down on us? He doesn’t have any controls here and he could easily run away!” She protested, the anger tinging her voice as her tail lashed back and forth behind her.

“He wouldn’t! I treat him very nicely and he could have run away at any point, but he’s kept following me.” Takkas asserted firmly and gave her head a short nod. “He is quite good for a human. I think that he enjoys my company as much as I enjoy his.”

“We didn’t leave the lavadome so that you could keep your little pet! Why didn’t you just take him to one of the Alkalenes? They would have been happy to have him!” Lathera snapped, the throbbing growing worse by the moment.

“Because they would do just the same!” She answered and then lowered her head slightly. “You weren’t supposed to find out this way. I wanted us to be settled before I brought him up. He won’t be any bother, he doesn’t even have to travel with us, he can travel behind us. He has been doing that quite well.”

How long had a human been on their trail and she hadn’t even noticed? She tried to imagine what it would have been like if it had been someone dangerous following them. If Takkas was leaving markings behind for her pet human, there were any number of people that would have been able to follow them. The Drakwatch was the least of their worries if the demen found them or the dwarves or any creature that wanted to have a dragon skin on their wall. It was reckless and all together infuriating that she hadn’t been told about any of this. She should have been allowed to say yes or no to the thrall coming! She should have been given some sort of say in the matter. The drakka ground her teeth, gritting them down hard enough that her jaw started to ache faintly. It was a bad habit from her youth, one that made it almost impossible to think straight because the more she ground her teeth together, the angrier she became, but she couldn’t break herself of it. Not this late in life.

It wasn’t that she despised humans at all. Most hominoids weren’t that terribly interesting to her. The thralls all tended to keep to themselves and mostly just did what they had to do to keep away and out of trouble. She had even known a few that were intelligent enough to be admired, but taking a thrall with them smacked too much of bringing the Lavadome along into their new lives. She didn’t want to spend it having thralls and keeping them caged, she wanted to spend it the way a drakka should enjoy the world. She had heard so much about how wonderful the wide world was, the things to be seen and experienced. Just thinking of stagnating back into having hominoids groom and take care of her was infuriating. And that was without the risk that came with the thrall being allowed to follow behind them!

“You’ve been leaving markers for a human to follow us?” Lathera dropped down onto her haunches and blew out a sigh, she felt betrayed and upset, but Takkas shook her head rapidly back and forth.

“Nothing like it! At night I’d go and meet him, he’d always leave a little beacon for me.” Takkas explained, blissfully unaware of the cold chill of fear her companion was feeling at that particular habit. “And then I would tell him where we planned to go the next night and he would just make plans to follow.”

“I just-“ She began, but then the thrall actually stepped forward and cleared its throat. She swung her head down at the creature and snarled, spitting out a touf to burn and make the creature jump back.

“Please, Mistress, I am trying to warn you!” The thrall spoke up, his voice high pitched and abrasive sounding to Lathera. “I had to meet you, I could not wait! There are dwarves that are making their way through the mountains!”

“Dwarves!” Lathera swung her head down, lowering it so her jaws were close to the thrall that actually huddled closer to Takkas. “What do you mean dwarves?”

“You’re frightening him.” Her companion sounded unhappy and shifted, turning her head down. “Where do you see them, Nathean? What sort?”

“I.. I can take you to them.” He stammered and she felt her tail start to lash faster. “I saw them on the ridge, I think they are moving towards the Uphold.”

“He would probably take us there and deliver us like a present to his dwarf friends.” Lathera snorted unfalteringly, but Takkas leaned forward to shove her shoulder with her muzzle. “Don’t be so bitter, he wouldn’t betray me.” She stated firmly. “Can you take us where we can see them without being caught?”

Lathera shifted back and forth, flexing her claws down against the ground as she watched the earnest look in her companions eyes. There was nothing fearful there, there was nothing that made her think that the other drakka was considering this a threat of any specific measure. She shifted her gaze down to the human and frowned a little to herself. He was roughed and bruised, certainly dirty, but beneath all that he was clean cut enough to make her look a bit closer. Most of the thralls were filthy nearly all the time, only bathing when they were forced into it, but this one didn’t seem to have those signs of neglect on him. He stood with his back straight and regarding both of them with deference, and even a wise touch of fear, but not babbling terror.

“Of course, Mistress!” The thrall rubbed the back of his neck, ducking his head down a little bit. “I spent most of the night climbing through the mountains trying to find you, I think I know them well enough.”

“If this is a trap.” Lathera growled low in her throat, curling her lip back to show every last one of her teeth. “I will make sure that you are ashes before the first blade comes for us.”

The human paled and Takkas let out an angry little sniff, but she didn’t care. She would do what she must to protect herself and her companion, even if it meant hurt feelings later on. Nathean gave himself a slight shake, squaring his shoulders at just the right angle before nodding his head up and down. She didn’t know if she knew human expressions enough to understand if he was truly going to betray them or if he were simply being earnest in that he had come to warn them. But that was neither here nor there, if there were dwarves in the mountains they would have to know about it, especially if the intended to live among them. She stood up, intending to demand the human take them, perhaps even position him so that if there were an attack he would be at the forefront, but the moment she stood she saw the expression on Takkas face.

_ She likes him._ Lathera felt a queer roll of confusion as she watched the drakka peering down at her thrall. She worries about him.

She should have demanded they leave right away, but she only let out a soft sigh and relaxed herself. Dragging a panting, hurting and thirsty human around wouldn’t do any good, it was better that the thrall have a clear head and mind, and be well rested. If it wasn’t a trap, he would need to be careful how he took them along the pathes.

“There is a stream over in the rocks, go and wash yourself and get something to drink.” Lathera relented slightly, gesturing with her muzzle. “We will go and see these dwarves of yours once you have caught your breath.”

“Of course, Mistress!” The thrall answered, bobbing his head in a queer little movement that ducked his upper body forward. “Thank you!”

Lathera ground her teeth together slightly and suppressed a sigh. She turned back to look at Takkas to see the drakkas expression lightening a little bit, the tension leaving her before the other green leaned forward to lightly nuzzle against her neck. It was a light touch, a brief and simple caress that took some of the ache from her firebladder. Her companion had always had good sense in making friends with others, she was able to read others well; dragon, dragonelle, drake or drakka. Why should she fail so entirely on reading a human? If the thrall had impressed her, there would be a reason. Lathera could only hope the reason was a good one. One that wouldn’t bite them later on.