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Scales and Honor: Swirling Storm

Chapter 9

"See? You just have to be patient." Infinity whispered to Jandar as she crouched low in a hunting stance as her emerald eyes focused intently on a cat sized crab close to the river's edge. The wrymling flicked her spiked tail from side to side as the tan shelled creatures just scuttled along the ground unaware of the dragoness readying herself to pounce.

"Be careful now you two." Ramakox said as he watched the pair from a large smooth grey stone. His tail hung over the rock's edge, flicking back and forth as he watched them "Hunt" the crab near the waters edge. This had so far consisted with the dragoness trying to instruct Jandar on how to crouch through the grass, how to hide his non existent tail, and finally how to pounce at things. He had laughed each time that Infinity had insisted that the teen do it "properly."

"We will!" Infinity rolled her eyes as she let out a small groan. "Somehow..considering you don't have any teeth, or talons." She looked up to Jandar with a flick of her tail and wrinkled snout.

"I got this stick." the human offered her a smile as he held out makeshift spear he had made out of sharpened wood. Ramakox had watched the boy try to convince the hatchling that he could use magic to aid in his hunt, but she had hissed at him and declared it cheating. Thus she had made him make the spear on account of his lack of talons or teeth.

"Don't remind me." Infinity snorted, returning her attention to the crab who had still not noticed their presence. Or possibly it had, and did not consider them anything of note.

Ramakox settled his snout into his paws as his eyes drifted from the crab and quickly back to the pair that were staring it, still as stone statues that lined the Emerald Ladies forest. He grumbled to himself how thrilled Infinity's parents had been when he had offered to watch the little wrymling and give them some much needed time to themselves. He felt a smile tug at his snout as he pictured in his mind that the lovely dragon mates were no doubt enjoying one another's bodies this very instant.

"Okay?...Ready?" Infinity asked, briefly looking Jandar as she waggled her haunches from side to side. She let out a pleased croon when the human nodded, and she bolted from their hiding spot towards the crab. "Watch and see how it's done Jandar!" she cried out in glee as her claws carried her swiftly towards the crustacean. Her front claw caught a slipper smooth rock and she nearly toppled over into the rock covered earth, but luckily she kept her footing.

Ramakox flicked his tail as he watched the wrymling and human close the distance to the crab. It looked like the Infinity did not need the human at all, and was simply going off on her own now. The way she was moving around the thing, it seemed like it was going to be an easy hunt for the black scaled dragon. That was until the crustacean suddenly turned around and eyed her with suspicion. The dragon felt a small sense of worry work it's way up his chest. He had no idea what her skill level was at in hunting. For all he knew this crab could have been a hard thing for her to fight. With his next breath he tried to calm himself by taking it in through his nose slowly. After all, he had bit off more than he could chew several times when he was her age.

The blue dragon went to rise to all fours, tensing his muscles and readying himself to bound after the wrymling, just in case things did not look good. He watched as Infinity dodged the thing's pincers with a sly smile.

"See Jandar?" she snarled, raising a paw and smashing it down onto the crab's shell, with all the strength she could muster. "You gotsta boop them on the shell first....Then.." Infinity slipped through the snapping claws once more to flip the thing over with her talons. The crustacean was quickly on it's back, pincers flailing away uselessly on the ground. The dragoness let out a little cute roar of victory, one no doubt that the little one thought was intimidating. She then proceeded to sink her razor sharp teeth into the thing's softer underbelly, and rip off it's arms limb by limb.

"See?" she smiled, ripping a chunk out of the crab and happily gobbling it down with a gulp." She thumped her tail on the ground, releasing a pleased croon from her throat.

"Oh, I can certainly see that." Jandar laughed, "and the sounds you are making. "You're the best hunter that I have ever laid my eyes upon."

"Mmmhmm."the wrymling nodded, closing her eyes and swelling out her chest in pride. "That is also what father says...He says I am the bestest hunter he has ever seen."

"That so?...Did ya hear that storm?" the human turned his face to offer the dragon a playful grin. "The bestest hunter ever!"

"Don't go filling the girls head with such lies." the blue dragon snorted, "Although you are by far the best wrymling that I have seen hunt those crabs." he quickly added when Infinity had appeared to be hurt by his words, and glared at him with narrowed eyes.

"Yay! Ramakox thinks I'm the best." she smiled, smacking Jandar accidentally with her tail as she continued to make pleased rumbles in the air. "So Jandar...did you learn to be a better hunter now?"

"I can use magic Infinity." the boy chuckled. "It is far easier to use magic then to rely on..." The teen gestured to the sharpened stick. "Spear." His chuckled turned into soft laughter as he held out a hand and began to pet along the dragoness' snout.

"Well I suppose dats better then having to rely on those terrible claws." she wrinkled her nose when his hands brushed against her leathery nose.

"Hands...they are called hands."the human laughed.

"Nu-uh." Infinity stuck her tongue out at him, flicking her tail defiantly on the floor. "They is called claws." Infinity licked him suddenly across his hand playfully, she then went to scamper away. She came to a stop though when something caught her eye and made her snap at the air. Infinity settled onto her haunches as she glared up to the flapping crimson wing's of a bird that was darting above her head. She flicked her tail behind her as she followed the small creature with her snout.

Ramakox rumbled a deep laugh in the back of his throat as the wrymling tensed her muscles, and wiggled her tail. Then as the bird decided to fly back over, the wrymling pounced up into the air with a mighty leap, and missed the bird right between her claws. She smacked the earth hard with one of those claws as she narrowed her eyes and glared at the bird. He heard her grumble underneath her breath as she stared at the ruby colored bird.

"Okay Jandar...use your magic to help me catch the bird." she pointed to the bird that had landed on a branch not that far away. It was like the bird thought it was not in any danger, and was playing with the black wyrmling.

"What's the matter?" Jandar chuckled, crouching low beside Infinity. "Can't catch it?"

"No.." She groaned. "It's too good at flying." Infinity unfurled one of her wings to look at the beautiful membranes. "I'm...new at it."

"Hey don't feel bad." Jandar thrust his thumb to his chest. "Me too!"

"How did you survive getting dropped from the sky?" Infinity tilted her head to the side, and then immediately bound to the human and started nosing him with her snout. "Do you has wings somewheres? Show me! Show me!"

"I flew on Storm here." he laughed, gesturing to the chuckling blue dragon with a nod."

"That not flying." Infinity waved a paw. "That's riding." She pushed off the human with an angry snort that had her breathe out a small plume of blackened smoke."

"So..when you were dropped from the sky." Jandar leaned back onto his hands. "Were you scared?"

"Of course not!' Infinity looked away with a flick of her tail. "Dad says that I am brave and strong, and braves and strongs don't get scared of fallin from the sky or nothin."

"That is mighty peculiar." Ramakox rumbled, stretching up from his rock with a loud yawn. "When I flew for my first time on my own, I was terrified."

"Y-you were?" Infinity turned back towards the blue dragon, her little eyes filling with wonder.

"But of course little Infinity. I practically screamed out for my mother to save me." He smiled down to the wrymling, who had snapped her snout quickly towards Jandar with a half-smile.

"Yes..I was scared." she said softly, flicking her tail over the ground. She shot her head to look up as the bright red bird suddenly darted again overhead. She quickly darted after the thing, her claws easily allowing her to climb the tree it landed in, and scare it off of the branch it had landed on for a perch. "Tiamat's backside." Infinity scratched at the bark with a talon, ripping off some of the dark brown material. "Ramakox...How do yous catch birds?"

"I don't." he snorted. "They are too quick for the little amount of meat they provide."

"Well I think they are fun."

"Even if you don't catch them?" he raised an eyebrow, laughing internally as the black wrymling looked away with a pout.

"Yea."

"Okay, okay." the dragon shifted his snout to look at Jandar, who was standing there looking at him with a coy smile and his arms crossed. It looked like he was holding onto a secret that he could not wait to tell. "What's the matter Jandar? You look ready to spill forth something. So unravel your tongue and spit it out."

"Your name is Ramakox." the boy tapped his foot. "I never figured that was your name."

"Oh." Ramakox's eyes widened as the boy unwound his arms and placed them at his side. It had never occurred to him that over all these years of having the boy around him. He had never once told him his name. Ramakox cursed himself as he drummed his talons against the ground. Not only did I lie to him about his risks with that ritual. I did not even give him my name as compensation..._He shifted his gaze for a moment as the feeling of guilt washed over him in a warm grip. "Well." the blue dragon shifted his weight from side to side as his tail flicked casually behind him. _Come on softscales...just get it over with..he has been waiting for so long for it. Ramakox tried to speak several more times,the words only coming out in low rumbles that made Infinity laugh and claim he sounded like a mountain lion.

"Graaah." he growled under his breath as he reached out with his claws and dragged the teen close to him. He let him go and curled his tail around them both as he was practically nose to nose with the human. "Jandar...the crying human that I plucked from the caravan...this is long over do."

"Why are you making it such a b-"

"Because it IS such a big thing." he silenced the human with a claw over his mouth. "My name is Ramakox." He pulled back his neck until it was in the shape of an S, and he swelled out his chest in pride. "The Swirling Storm, the defeater of undead, and the savior of little boys."

"You added that last one didn't you." the teen laughed, causing Ramakox to grumble. "Finally though...I thought I was going to have to call you Storm for the rest of my life. I was starting to feel somewhat hurt that you did not share this sooner."

"Oh right!" Infinity suddenly gasped loudly, her talons slipping on the branch as she strutted along the wood. She wound her limbs around the wood however and caught herself from falling. "Whew." she chuckled. "I forgot." She righted herself onto the wooden perch, hanging her head softly as she did so. "Titles are for mortals...Names are for dragons."

"How did you forget that?" Jandar asked with a warm smile as he padded over towards the sulking dragoness. He raised one of his hands, and gently brushed it underneath her chin and forced her to look up at him.

"You was the first mortal I eva saw. How was I supposta learn otherwise?" She flicked her tail, smacking the human in the arm.

"Hey." Jandar pointed his finger at the playful dragoness, causing him to snatch it back when she tried to nip it with her jaws. "What is your title Infinity? Before you bite my damn fingers off!"

"Don't do yas any good." she leaped off of the branch, landing to the ground with a thud. "If you want it.."she wiggled her tail and bolted off from the river like an arrow loosed from a bow. "You gottsta catch me!" She turned her head back once to taunt Jandar with a display of her tongue.

"Why you little! I will catch you!" Jandar shouted out in glee, moments after flashing Ramakox a nod. The human ran after the dragoness with Ramakox right on his heals.

They followed the dragoness for quite awhile as she seemed unable to run out of energy. She brought them around rocks, through small streams, flying gently over mud. She would always stop to see where they were in relation to her, crouch into a playful stance, and then quickly bolt away when they got close. She kept this up for at least an hour before Jandar finally caught her by surprise tackled her to the ground.

"Gotcha!" he laughed, pinning the wiggling wrymling to the earth.

"Awwwww." Infinity flopped her head onto the ground, giving her tail a little thump on the dirt. "You win..."

"Now...what is your title dragon?" Jandar touched her chest with a finger, causing the wrymling to spasm and cackle with laughter.

"Its...Night Rising...if you hafta know" she finally said after the human retracted his finger, and released her from her forced laughter. She suddenly smile as with her next wiggle she must have felt the boy's grip lessen on her. For in the next moment she had slipped right through him and bolted away with a great laugh.

"Do you ever stay in the same spot?" Ramakox chuckled, trotting after the wrymling who seemed hellbent on leading them on a sightseeing tour of the countryside.

"Never!" She shot back, redoubling her efforts and running further away from the perusing dragon and human. This continued on for the rest of the day. When they would just have her in their grasp she would bolt away with another bout of laughter escaping her onyx scaled maw. They eventually made their way to a rolling hill dotted with sunflowers as the sun had started it's descent towards the horizon, and fill the sky with colors of red and orange. It made the sky look like it had been cast aflame.

"Look! It's a..thing that peoples wear." Infinity grabbed one of the larger sunflowers that was the size of her head and placed it on top of her horns. "I is a human now." she turned to Jandar and then to Ramakox with a big smile, showing off all her pearly white teeth. "How do I look?" she asked, thumping her tail on the grass behind her.

Ramakox looked to the human, who just gave him a nervous look and a nod. He laughed internally as the human rubbed the back of his neck, and his face had started to flush red. "You look delightful Infinity...I can hardly tell if your a dragoness right now...All I see are two humans."

"I knew it! I knew it!" Infinity laughed, tackling Jandar in the next second. "And you said I would not look like a human...Well in your face!' she stuck her tongue out at him, tapping her paw against his chest when she had him on the ground. After another round of laughing, wrestling, and a dragoness licking his face playfully. The human and dragoness tumbled over the green grass, eventually coming to a stop with their backs on the field, and their eyes to the sky above.

"Thanks for this Ramakox." Jandar turned to smile at him as he padded over towards the silly looking pair.

"For what? Letting you run around and act like a wrymling again?" he tilted his head to the side as he gave the human a coy smile.

"For this.." the human looked to the countryside and gestured with a sweep of his arm. "It's good to just relax for a change...no training..no drills..Just...fun." Jandar crossed his arms, and settled himself in the grass. He closed his eyes gently, taking a deep breath as he did so.

"Oh..now you have the right idea!" Infinity let loose a pleased croon as she quickly dragged herself so that she was on top of the teen. She rose only slightly to re-position herself, until she was curled up on top of his stomach. She brought her snout close to his chest and nuzzled him gently.

"Hey.." Jandar laughed softly with his eyes still closed. He brought up his hand, and gently brushed Infinity's scales.

"You're my bed now."she mumbled, laying her head down and giving a long tongue curling yawn that seemed to linger in the air for a minute or two. "So...warm..." she smiled, wiggling herself so that she was comfortable. It caused the human to let out a small pleased sigh.

Ramakox strolled passed the two, who looked to be two wrymlings with each passing second that his eyes lingered on them. It seems like they are wise beyond their years...and have the right idea. He shook himself once, causing his scales to clink as he fought his eyelids to stay open. He felt his limbs then start to grow heavy, and start to dragon him down to the ground. Oh come now. He yawned, closing his eyes and stretching his back like a cat in the warm sun. So nice and warm.. He arched his neck, working a kink from his scales as he flared his nostrils and took in the pleasant smell of sunflowers wafting on the breeze. He blinked his eyes and shifted his gaze to the human teen that looked so content to be sleeping there with a wrymling held within his grip.

Ramakox lingered on them a few moments longer, resettling his wings against his back as he felt his heart start to stretch. It made the dragon frown as he pictured his mortal walking away with a wave, finally heading out into the world to be the great adventurer he knew he would be. I'm going to miss him...So enjoy the time you have with him now...While he is here. The words whispered in his mind, carrying his limbs over to the sleeping pair. The dragon let out a small sigh as he settled himself to all fours, and curled his body around them like a mother might her clutch. The great blue dragon settled his snout down next to his mortal, and let out a pleased snort. With a final breath he listened to the soft breeze rustle the trees in the distance, and after a few minuted he let sleep take him into it's embrace.