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Here's the next chapter in the Dragon Hunter series, haven't posted one in awhile so here you go, it has a few twists that I think you'll like, if you don't you'll get over it cause I'm not changing them. :)

Vote and Comment as always.

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Pushing through the ash storm as it blows over them, Dragon Hunter looks up, seeing the shadow of the dragon flying above them. Looking over his shoulder he could see Si'la struggling to catch up with him, turning back and gazing straight ahead he saw nothing but the black and grey ash swirling around. There was no end to it and he had known it was coming, the signs had been obvious. Going around and trying to dodge the storm would have killed days, not that he was in a hurry to be anywhere but wasting time like that for a 'safe' detour was not something he was fond of doing.

The sound of something falling behind him gained his attention and he turned to see Si'la pulling herself back to her feet. She had fallen more than she walked, forcing him to stop several times and it was starting to become aggravating, he turned away from the fur and looked around. The shadow of a building was off in the distance; they were near the ruins of a city it seemed, or a building that was placed way out in the middle of fucking nowhere. Either way it was shelter so Dragon Hunter started toward it, calling out for Si'la to hurry up.

The building was the tip of what was once some kind of office building, the tough glass windows hiding the decrepit chairs and what were once cubicles, containing millions of pieces of paper that would crumble if the wind blew right. Sitting himself down he looked over at Si'la who was kneeling over with her paws on her knees panting for breath. He gazed at the otter as she pried the scarf from her face, trying to get some of the ash out of her mouth and lungs by hacking up, then looking over to the Dragon Hunter silently asking 'Is it always like this out here?'

Looking forward, he replied "You get used to it after awhile." Her ears fanned back then she slowly moved toward him and kneeled down, rubbing her head up against his chest before laying down resting her head in his lap and curling up. His hand shifted down and began stroking her head unconsciously, it seemed like the right thing to do.

Watching Si'la as her eyes slowly drifted down and she slowly fell into a calm sleep, he lifted his head and looking to his right saw the dragon laying there, having had just enough room for a tight squeeze to fit into the building. He stared at the dragon as it gazed back at Dragon Hunter and after a moment he gritted his teeth.

"Shut up, I know she's not used to this life and I should have left her but she's as hard headed as you." The dragon pulled its head back slightly giving a snort and an 'Hard headed' expression before lowering its head again and opening its mouth.

A deep and slightly gruff voice filled the area. "I don't see why you even accepted her, she's far to young to be travelling with us and she was raised in a forest of all places, siva'lai'kisa." He looked back down at Si'la as he heard the dragon speak in its own tongue.

"Keep your mouth shut." Gently setting Si'la head down on the ground, he slowly stood up and moved toward the dragon. "Your just jealous that there's another female around and she's my mate, where as you're only used for tracking down other dragons." A deep, near feral, growl came from the dragon as Dragon Hunter neared her.

"You cross the line again siva'lai'kisa, should you do it again I will snap my jaws around your head," came the dragon's threat though Dragon Hunter moved to stand in front of her just looking down into her eyes unflinchingly. The dragon's head was large enough to swallow Dragon Hunter without chewing but he showed no fear.

Moving forward, setting his hands on the dragons snout and laying himself over her head lightly, resting against her with only his right foot touching the ground, his hands moved in slow circles over the dragons scales. "You're too sensitive," came his voice as the dragon slowly let its eyes drift shut, enjoying the gentle caresses from the human.

"You are too insensitive, you say whatever comes to mind despite others, its annoying," the dragons voice was covered by a light rumble, almost like a purr from a cat when it was pet, though the dragons was much louder. Moving back and straddling the dragons snout, his legs hanging down each side of the dragons muzzle, his hands continued rubbing the dragons eye ridges.

"We'll stay here tonight and see if the storm dies down tomorrow morning, got it dragon?" A rumble continued from the dragon and silence ensued as Dragon Hunter continued petting the dragons head giving a smirk. "Good, we'll see how far we can get tomorrow then," with that he slipped off the dragon and started back toward Si'la. He only got three steps away before he was wrapped in the dragons tail and pulled back against the dragons chest then quickly curled around blocking all ways out, the dragons head was resting on her tail giving Dragon Hunter just enough room to move.

Dragon Hunter looked at the dragon, which was wearing a satisfied smile on her muzzle before her eyes slowly closed and a deep sigh came from her. Sighing himself he leaned back against the dragons warm scales, listening to her deep steady breathing and the heartbeat inside, the constant rhythm slowly lulling him to sleep as well.

Slowly Si'la found herself drifting from sleep into consciousness, even though she tried to fight it, but a persistent shaking brought her back to the reality, Dragon Hunter shook Si'la once again saying her name softly and soon she opened her eyes and looked up at him. Dragon Hunter slowly stood and moved away letting Si'la get herself up the rest of the way. Si'la sat up and looked around, seeing her mate standing in front of the dragon speaking in a hushed tone, the dragon nodding and touching its nose to his chest before turning and slipping out of the shelter into the still raging ash storm outside.

He turned back to Si'la before pulling his goggles down and his cloth mask up. "Get up, we're leaving, we don't have enough food or time to stay here," with that he stepped out, letting Si'la get herself ready.

He was standing just outside of the entrance to the shelter for only a few moments before Si'la stepped out and gripped his arm, looking down at the otter fur he gave a nod before he began walking though the ash that surrounded them. Si'la released his arm and kept as close as she could, not wanting to make him stop again.

Dragon Hunter pressed on for several hours, walking defiantly against the blowing ash that seemed endless, making sure that Si'la didn't fall to far behind where she would get lost, it would be impossible to find anyone in the ash and should they fall and get buried they were dead. Si'la had begun to get the hang of walking without falling so much, though she did stumble several times, the shifting ash under one's feet as well as the hidden objects that would appear to trip up travellers, then quickly disappear again.

Moving to the top of a hill and looking to the sky, seeing the dragons shadow moving back and forth, Dragon Hunter looked forward as if trying to pierce through the ash storm to see what was at the end. As Si'la reached the top of the hill and gazed up at her mate curiously, she was being blown off her feet as a strong wind soared over them. The ash storm suddenly disappeared with that final gust of wind leaving Dragon Hunter standing there, gazing at a destroyed city standing in the distance.

Si'la blinked and looked up at the dragon who circled once before shifting and flying away, doing a large circle around the city as Dragon Hunter lifted his goggles and narrowed his eyes at the city as if searching for something. Si'la looked toward her mate, then toward the city trying to figure out what he was looking for but only saw decimated buildings covered in ash.

Dragon Hunter looked down at Si'la, seeing she was trying to understand what was going on.

"Cities are where dragons make their dens, large thick buildings to lay eggs is safer than out in the middle of the ash lands, but there's no signs of a dragon even being here which is wrong, there's something wrong with this place."

Si'la blinked at the sudden explanation from her mate, but he knew more about the outside than she did and if he said that there was something wrong then there probably was, after a moment Dragon Hunter started toward the city, Si'la taking a moment before quickly moving after him. It wasn't long before they reached the edge of the city, Dragon Hunter was on edge looking around carefully while Si'la remained behind him, looking around trying to be of use and make sure that they weren't surprised by anything hostile.

The city was small on a normal scale, but in this day and age it was huge. There were around forty buildings, all being sky scrapers at least around the thirtieth floor and up, though there were also other buildings that had been lifted from the ground and tossed around, protruding from the ash. All the buildings were close together but had certain spaces that were big enough for a large dragon to enter, which led Dragon Hunter to believe that there was a dragon here once upon a time, but there were few other signs that there was one around.

As they moved into the center of the destroyed city a roar echoed throughout the buildings. Looking to the sky Dragon Hunter saw nothing but the grey clouds; he quickly turned around and saw a large bronze colored dragon slipping from one of the skyscraper's upper floors. The dragon was lean, like the one that followed him around, though its coloring threw him off slightly. Its body structure was the same as his dragons though its horns sprouted from the back of its head and spiralled mid way before coming to a sharp point. Its eyes were a golden color and were fixated on the two creatures that had entered its den. Jumping from the building and landing between the buildings that Dragon Hunter and Si'la had walked through, its height was near fourteen feet, just like Dragon Hunters dragon though its build was slightly larger.

Si'la was frozen in fear as the dragon crashed into the alley in front of them, though Dragon Hunter was ready and immediately jumped forward, shoving Si'la out of the way and pulling his crossbow from his shoulder. The dragon watched the human's movements, seeing him shove the fur out of the way before charging forward with something in hand. He strung a net canister into his crossbow before aiming at the dragon's head. Sealing its mouth was the main concern now, if it breathed fire like this, in these close yet stretched quarters, they wouldn't have time to find a hiding place and there were no cars or quick shielding around.

Pulling the trigger, the arrow launched toward the dragon though it seemed to realize what was happening and quickly jumped back and then jumped over the net as it burst from the canister. He cursed as the dragon landed in front of him and quickly reared its head back. He knew what was about to happen, as well that Si'la wouldn't be able to get out of the way, he had only two options and he wasn't about to stand there and get roasted, quickly he dashed to the right, making sure the dragons attention remained on him.

It was a long shot since he had only moments to get into the nearby building, as well as find a way to get right back out of it before the flames engulfed the entire place. Sprinting as fast as he could with the dragon's head following him he ran into one of the office buildings. The dragon's eyes were locked onto the human as it ran into the building and quickly lunging its head forward with its mouth open. Two liquids shot from the back of its throat, the streams of liquid crashed together in the middle of the dragons mouth and immediately ignited, sending forth a large stream of fire that followed the human into the building and quickly burnt everything.

Si'la sat there watching as her mate led the dragon away from her and opened her mouth to scream, though her voice wouldn't come as she saw the dragon breath fire into the same building as her mate, watching the entire building begin to burn from the inside. Moving to her paws and knees with tears forming in her eyes before she noticed the dragon gazing at her, the flames playing off its ash covered scales, the shadows over its face and the gleam in its eyes as it stared toward her.

Quickly getting to her feet and turning to run in fear, forgetting all her training as well as everything that had been told to her about dragons, the memory of her throat being slashed open by a dragon long ago appearing in her mind as she ran from the beast. The dragon followed her slowly, not bothering to run after its prey, Si'la dashed between to buildings, moving into a space too small for the dragon to follow her, she needed to find a place where the dragon was unable to get her.

Si'la looked around and quickly moved through the small crevice to the other side, only to freeze as the dragon jumped over the buildings and landed in front of her, cutting off her escape. Si'la tried to dash to the right knowing that going back through the crevice would get her no where as it only led one way. The dragon lifted its head as if looking down at its nose, showing what could be called cockiness as it licked over its long snout, making its intentions clear that it would eat Si'la.

As it lowered its head and opened its maw Si'la pressing herself against the wall firmly as tears ran down her already wet cheeks, small pained whimpers coming from her throat as the dragons head neared, its jaws opened wide and its hot breath rushing over Si'las quivering body. Gritting his teeth in anger as he stepped to the edge of the building, he looked down at the dragon that had its jaws around Si'la, ready to snap her in half, he flipped his ax around so the long curved nail was presented.

Jumping from the roof with a shout of anger, he made the dragon look up in time to see Dragon Hunter swinging his ax around. He slammed the pick through the dragons left eye making it reel back and roar out in pain, its roar shaking the buildings around it as it ripped its head back and forth sending the ax and Dragon Hunter flying through the air. Flipping around and crashing into the ground on his side, though quickly rolling and pulling his cross bow from his left shoulder again, the crossbow was already loaded with another net canister and he wasted no time in firing it, the net bursting forth and wrapping around the dragons head.

The dragon thrashed around slamming its body into a building on its right before trying to claw the net from its head. Quickly dashing to his right and picking his ax from the ground he charged the dragon with a roar of anger, the dragon looked down and saw the human charging once again and quickly jumped away, trying to use its tail to knock him down. Seeing the dragons tail soaring toward him he quickly dove down and laid flat, letting the tail swing over him before charging again, as the dragons tail swung back he jumped, barely making it over the dragons tail but giving him enough time to get in close.

The dragon, seeing that the human was in close quickly spun around and slashed at him with its right forearm. Ducking down and jumping back quickly, barely missing the deadly claws before dashing forward, he swung his ax around in a moon shape and slammed the pick of his ax into the dragons chest, making it roar out in pain before jumping back and clawing to get the ax out. Jumping back and leaving the ax in the dragon, he let it fight to get it out, pulling his crossbow from his shoulder once again, having strung it just before picking his ax up, he pulls the bow back quickly and loads in a rounded tipped arrow.

Quickly moving back as the dragon knocks the axe out of its chest and gives a muffled roar, with the net still firmly around its head, aiming he quickly fires. The dragon jumped back to try and avoid what it thought was another net but as the arrow hit against the dragon's side the canister exploded. The blast knocked Dragon Hunter back slightly since he was still within the blast radius but the dragon was thrown back, smashing into a nearby building and laying still. Standing and moving toward the laying dragon, he could see its chest still heaving, its left side was scorched and its scales were scattered.

It would live with these kinds of wounds, dragons were amazingly resistant and could survive some of the most severe wounds. Pulling back the crossbow string, he quickly halted as the sound of a gunshot went off. Spinning around he saw Si'la being held by two furs. On the building rooftops around him were dozens of furs and humans, males and females standing around with weapons drawn, some aimed, others resting on shoulders or at hips. Looking back to Si'la, he saw a wolf standing in front of her with his right paw raised and a pistol in his paw.

The wolf was black with piercing blue eyes, like the rest of the surrounding furs his clothing was makeshift, denim or anything that was durable and would last. The wolf blinked as he looked at the dragon laying before the human in front of him.

"Your really something to be able to do that by yourself...but, I'm gonna ask you to not kill her." Blinking once before narrowing his eyes, Dragon Hunter now understood why these people were here.

The wolf stepped forward and slipped his pistol into the back of his pants, "You see that dragon belongs to our boss, she's a good girl but hates to be disturbed, so when you and your little friend came here she naturally went into attack mode. I'm surprised that you were able to do so much damage to her but we'll be killing you and fixing her up, your meat should speed the healing process."

Lifting his left hand up he pulled an arrow from his quiver, several weapons being raised as he did. The wolf smiled as if begging him to try to shoot him or the dragon, but as he loaded the long arrow into the crossbow he merely lifted it and pointed it straight into the air. The wolf blinked as he fired the crossbow and a loud whistle echoed throughout the destroyed city, the whistling arrow soared high into the air and when it fell silent a loud roar took its place, followed by the shadow of a dragon bursting from the clouds.

The wolf looked up, as did many others as the dragon soared down toward them, the black dragon circled quickly before pulling its wings in and crashing down behind Dragon Hunter, its head moved to his side before its mouth opened and a deafening roar sounded from its mouth.

"You see this dragon, she belongs to me and she doesn't like the fact that you've threatened my life" came Dragon Hunter's voice as a sly smirk crossed his lips.

The wolf looked ready to piss himself as he saw the black dragon snarling viciously at him, his eyes fading to the still wounded bronze dragon behind the black one, seeing she was too wounded to do anything.

Silence and an air of desperate anxiousness fell over the entire area as weapons were raised toward the black dragon and the human. Eyes cut back and forth, looking to the people next to them asking what they should do, though Dragon Hunter remained standing there with a sly smile on his face and his head tilted back slightly, showing no fear. The black dragon next to him having its head lowered and a vicious smile on its snout as well, both watching the black wolf waiting to see what he would do, but laughter slowly overcame the area making many look around, including Dragon Hunter.

"Ha ha, you're still as fearless as ever," the voice was feminine, and soon a human woman moved through the crowd of furs and humans on the rooftop to the right of Dragon Hunter. She was slightly taller than the average wolf, with dirty blonde hair that was long, though covered in ash. She jumped from the rooftop with a sly almost insane smirk, her odd orange colored eyes gazing into Dragons Hunters dark green eyes, her build was slightly muscular though her large chest made her a definite woman. Stepping toward Dragon Hunter, showing no fear of the black dragon, she wore a denim vest like Dragon hunter though her pants were a different kind of material. Down her right arm was a tattoo of what looked like the end of a tail that twisted from the back of her shoulder down to her forearm. She slowly came to a stop in front of Dragon Hunter,

"Its been quite some time Jace, glad to see you didn't die twelve years ago," the woman smiled. Dragon Hunter lowered his head though as thoughts of twelve years ago slowly crept into his mind, "We've got so much catching up to do" she said with the same near insane smile as everyone around gazed at the two humans.