The Forgotten 12: Mercy
#12 of The Forgotten
Humans. Humans made about as much sense as sheep and weren't nearly so tasty. The large drake stretched himself out on the ledge while he listened with half his mind to the frantic ramblings of Baen. The thoughts were so disjointed they were barely worthy of his consideration, yet the babbling continued as he tried to convey why what the dragon had done was wrong. How could he even apply the word to a beast such as himself? What mattered was the human horde was cowed enough to start breaking up camps and stowing things onto boats. What mattered was they were going to launch a full scale attack with the intent on penetrating the inner country. Yet the old warrior seemed upset about something and he finally raised his head with an irritable snort.
:Bright one. Storm's master, you cannot be eating and be harming your people.: The words were so crude against his mind that he wrinkled his lip up in distaste. His people?! His people?! These hairless jabbering apes were not his people!
:Hush. They would have killed you and taken command, they earned their sentence. You are not my people. Once I have my daughter I will shake my wings free of the scent of all of you!: He hissed out the thoughts with enough menace he had the satisfaction of seeing the man wince and shy away from the contact.
He had brought Baen back to Craig Island injured and fevered. He had thought that that would be an end to the young males constant vying for position, but instead had lead towards the more opportunistic attempting to quietly kill the old leader. Sithen refused to see his choice as one made due to any sort of affection for the little bug of a man, but more it was the most pragmatic way to make his point. He had startled the pair of them and driven them into the camp with his bellowing roars so that the rest of the people awakened. It was there that his massive jaws had put an end to the would be leaders and he had made a show of swallowing them down while they were still kicking. How better to show that he would not tolerate betrayal or any hampering in his efforts to obtain what was his.
That had of course caused a panic that had baffled him and enraged him at the same time. They didn't acknowledge his right to the prey, they didn't acknowledge the sentence was just, instead they cowered and hid their children from him. He would never understand these people! The next day a small group had come to the mending Baen and requested that they set sail for the main land to strike. Their nervous glances towards him and their own thoughts betrayed what they were thinking. If he were offered enough prey from the enemy perhaps he would not eat any more of them. The drake rumbled at that. Did they think him an animal? That it was simply the hunger in his stomach that had made him devour the traitors.
Humans were as egotistical and vain as any creature under the sun. They created lines over the earth where there should be none. They mapped out their countries and borders where massive colonies were kept rather than one male and his females holding the property. As far as he understood it the vast land of the Empire was under the rule of one single man. The hubris of claiming so much for himself incensed the storm drake. He only claimed what he could hold and fly over, he did not enslave other dragons and force them to his work. No, humans were not his people and would never be anything like his people. Their worries and concerns were so selfish and short sighted they disgusted him at the best of times. Only a few such as Baen rose up to some esteem in the dragons mind.
:Tomorrow we be setting off to be attacking.: Baen's broken thoughts touched his mind and he simply rumbled a mild assent to the words.
Sithen didn't bother to reply or try to touch the man's mind again. He simply stared out over the ocean where the first boats were being floated out and loaded up. He had one goal when he touched the main land again and that was to find the human who had reeked of the one that had captured his daughter. The only reason he lived was his priorities would not be veered away from snatching Baen and returning, but now he would hunt down and find the man. His death would be the first of many that would sooth the lust he felt for those that had caused him such grief. When he finally had Lashane back he would take her to the mountains and leave behind the legend of his name in the Empire if it still existed.
He listened to Baen walk away as something like pleasure thrummed through him at the prospect of what legacy he would leave behind. Would they tell stories of him to their children in hushed fearful voices? Would they remember him as terror in the night and the roar of his voice before their cities fell? These men had forgotten that they did not live in this world along and he intended to remind them of it. He lifted his head once the old warrior had left and stared up at the evening sky and the stars that had started to glitter on the dark velvet night. He knew something of the religion of the men he fought alongside and for once he almost yearned for someone to hear his voice and grant his plea. Please let her be safe, let her be whole, let her hold on until he came for her. His prayers to no one fluttered into the sky as he watched the glory of the night replace the day.
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Lashane lived in a world that felt as if the tide of the ocean were sweeping over her. With each wave that crashed over she was able to break the surface and for a moment become aware of the broken state of her body and the pain that raged through it. Just those moments made her retreat back into the darkness of not knowing what was happening to her. She didn't want to touch the pain anymore. Yet time and again she surfaced to feel how battered and broken her body was, but the spark of her life hung on tenuously to the grip she had to her changed body. Only when she sank deep enough did she feel a great heart beat echo in her mind's ears. The steady percussion made her head pound and her chest pulse as it spread unseen fingers outwards.
She didn't know what she was doing, but her body seemed to guide her none the less. Here she was touching deeper into the earth. She felt herself sink into it as the rhythm continued and something hovered just out of her reach. Her body allowed itself to hover just on the edge of life as she sought for something she had no name for. It was only when she grasped it did she realize what she had been reaching for. The heart of the earth was lava and heat. The heart of the earth was fiery and untamed. Yet when she reached out to it she felt the heat sinking into her core and ignite the faltering fires of her life. Each breath that she shallowly drew in was coaxed by the sensation of reaching for that power as the heat spread towards her limbs.
Even in the darkness of her body and held protectively away from the pain she felt a shock as she achieved a balance in reaching ever outwards. It was the heat of the earth to take away the chill of the enclosure, the hard rock beneath her was touched and drew the web-like power into her to start to mend her broken wing, and the frozen ice was melted beneath her as the power built from the mutable and changeable to start to heal her body. The human in her shrank away from the way her dragon self flung open her guards to embrace the world around her. It was not afraid to let itself walk unguarded, instead it welcomed the crashing down of barriers to touch even the sky itself. The clouds had their own power and secrets that were closer to her heart then the earth.
As a Mage her energy had always come from herself and her ability to warp and twist her mind to create spells. It was limited to what power she possessed and the energy she had. This was nothing like that. It was as if the very air held the power she desired and each time she breathed in she was letting it run through her body. She tried to gain control of her body to seize the power and pull it in. If she could gather enough could she reverse her changes? The first moment she tried to latch onto it the power flowed away from her. It wasn't a power to be hidden away and captured, it was simply there as long as she was open to it. Lashane tried to grasp the concept and failed as her body mended itself. It was done in a way that would have made any Mage who saw it raw with envy. Was this why she could only use her own energy? Was it because she was unable to let the power flow through her?
It felt like minutes and it felt like days. Time had stopped meaning anything long before she was ready to stir. She awakened from a dream and some half realized revelation to flash her eyes open to see the desolate white and grey landscape in front of her. Her body still ached, but it was the ache of strained muscle rather than broken and torn. She moved slowly and carefully ready to freeze at the first hint something was still damaged. Her throat still ached when she swallowed, but she didn't think anything was broken. Her wing folded properly against her side. She stretched it out to see if it worked and the muscles and bone responded readily to her command. She was alive and whole. A deep purr rumbled from her throat at that. She could heal herself.
:Pretty...: The voice dripped through her mind and seemed to roil with other voices beneath it. :Pretty...:
The former Mage twisted around and bared her lips back in a hiss as she found the Wyvern standing on an out cropping of stone with his wings folded against his side. His intense gaze pinned her down and his eyes trailed up and down her body as if measuring her worth. She couldn't help but darken in reaction to the way he looked at her and then his wings unfolded to drop down like a pair of forelegs as he came from his perch. The white of his body was flushed faintly pink as he extended a slimy black tongue out and then snapped it back into his maw with a deep croon to himself. The thoughts on his mind made her stiffen and bristle as she took a step backwards. They were jumbled, but the arousal that he felt came through clearly.
:Stay away from me.: She hissed back and took a defensive position.
:Why? When your flesh will be so sweet?: The laughter on his mind voice was maddened and she twisted her body to make a lunge for the edge of the rocks. The creature was insane. Did he intend to mount and then eat her?
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The Wyvern watched as the storm dragoness's body had changed and healed before his eyes. It was a magic as old as anything in this world and one he felt a passing mourning for. He couldn't touch it. He could remember it, but he couldn't touch it. The voices of his past and his own voice stopped him each time he tried to. Sometimes he felt as if he was housing all of his kind from the past and they insisted on fighting for dominance. While she healed he had felt something like pity and remorse for what he had done. He could look at her battered body and feel ashamed that humans had brought him to this point in his life. How could he let them control him thus? The longer he watched her, the deeper his shame ran until he had nearly felt sane. He could almost remember the name they had once used for him.
The moment she moved, though, and all thoughts of remorse had left him. Her body rippled beneath her scales with youth and female curves that made him think of other things. The heat that still radiated in his form from her eggs made him eager and excited. She wasn't his kind, but who was? He couldn't remember the last time he had seen another male, let alone a female. After what her ancestors had done it was fitting that she paid the price with her own young body. He let her move and get her feet under her before he brushed her mind with his own. She was so lovely, she would be even more lovely beneath him. His mind flashed through a hundred such matings in the past. Some had been sweet and eager, others fiery and defiant.
He followed as she tried to find an escape from him. His eyes were locked on the sight of the way her body moved and shifted. Her wings were pulled tight to her body and the muscles were perfectly created to move her gracefully over the ground. He spread his wings to either side like a shield as he reared up on his haunches and balanced there. For slow walking he could use his wings as legs, but his haunches provided the drive and speed that few other dragons could match. He let her get near the edge of the rocks before he launched towards her with a scraping of his talons against the ground. His wings spread back behind him as he leapt and gave one hard beat in the air to lift himself from the ground. He knew any higher and he'd hit the barrier that covered this dome.
Her terrified eyes met his form as he extended his legs and let his paws hit against her shoulder and slam her down to the ground as she let out an outraged shriek. His weight was put behind them as he used her as a landing platform and he moved one paw upwards to shove down against her neck. The collar bit against the underside of his heel while he lowered his head and let out a deep hissing noise in silent threat. Her body writhed under him and her tail lashed up to hit against his back and haunches as he gave another shove down against her. Her body was so warm under his own. He could feel the heat radiating from her scales and to his feet while he mantled his wide wings over her prone form and tilted his head to one side.
:Stillness or your life, it's all one to me.: He threatened and clenched his talons down meaningfully against her neck.
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Lashane twisted and snarled up at the beast that shoved her down against the ground. She could feel the hard ice covered rock push against her side and force the muscle against her ribs. The foot against her neck threatened to cut off her air flow while she flailed and tried to use her tail as a whip. The spikes at the end of it skidded against the hard cold scales of the drake while he stared down at her with one insane looking eye. It was only when he turned his head fully towards her she realized that one of his pupils was dilated while the other wasn't. The effect was a maddened expression that sent a chill down her back as he curled his lips back and made his threat. She blasted him with her outrage but forced herself to stop thrashing.
Her breath came out wheezing from the foot on her neck before her gaze dropped down away from the uncomfortably crazed gaze. The pink undertones of the scales darkened along the stomach scales and she saw them almost reddened around the vent. As if he knew she was watching the beast's stomach tensed and disgorged a ebony black shaft that was shaped like a spade. It glistened in the light before a single drop of milky fluid bubbled to the tip and fell to the ground. Even as it left the cock it froze to clatter against the ground. She let out a hissing whimper as she tried to jerk again only to feel one mobile foot clasp against her hip and force her onto her back so that her wings were pinned down. The foot at her neck moved away only to be replaced with the powerful clamping jaws.
The weight shifted over her as the teeth dug in against her scales and each breath send a tremble of cold running down her spine. She closed her eyes entirely and muffled a keen as the wings spread over her body and the beast pushed himself down over her. His foot paws gripped one of her ankles and yanked it open wide before the second leg was treated the same way. The disgusting touch might have been bearable if it weren't for the thoughts that pounded against her mind advertising its need and desire. It made her feel filthy as his lust wrapped around her and the thoughts of how tight and slick she would be invaded her mind. She wanted to shake them off as his weight shoved over her own and she arched her back.
She gave a frantic battle beneath the weight of him to try and throw him off, but the wing fingers hooked down over her own and the talon dug in against the muscle. He was heavier then he looked as he shoved down over her and effectively pinned her in place. His long tail coiled and wrapped itself around her own so that her haunches were raised upwards slightly to feel the ice cold shaft emerging from the vent. She could feel the spade shaped tip traveling up her stomach followed by sharp ridges that bordered on being barbs. They caught against her stomach scales and she keened out and twisted again. The precum dribbled down along her stomach leaving cold frozen puddles that melted under her body heat. The world was scented with the crisp sharp scent of winter, a scent she would never enjoy again.
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The Wyvern forced the female down under him and felt the heat that radiated from all her body against his own. With his own kind they only felt pleasure with heat at one point in their lives and that was during the mating season. At any other time they preferred a cold so harsh that it would kill most living things, but the moment the weather started to warm they felt their blood begin to flow faster and more freely. She was nothing like a female of his kind, she was almost painfully hot to the touch, but where his scales rubbed against her she started to cool down again. He forced more of his shaft from his body against her stomach and ground himself against her. His long toes curled around her own to keep them pushed apart and up leaving her obscenely presented to him.
He made sure his teeth gripped just over the large vein in her throat while his mind brought up fractured images of a hundred such matings. The visions of past lovers veiled over her own features as he rolled his hips back and used his tail wrapped around hers to brace himself. The spade of his tip jabbed and bumped against her lower belly scales searchingly and drooled out thick spills of his pre to splatter over her. It wasn't long until he pulled back enough to find the tender opening of her vent. The heat made him hiss out in reaction, it felt like fire against him, but nothing deterred him from his goal. He rocked his hips down and peeled open her passage with a shudder of pleasure at the first fiery grasp of her walls around him.
The storm dragon's cry echoed in his ears and he dug his jaws down tighter so that they became strangled and he used his feet to pull himself forward and sink the first sharply made ridge into her with a wet popping noise. The struggling female rocked and twisted beneath him as she tried to pull free, but he savored the sudden clench of those so hot folds and reward it with a rush of his precum. It trailed out from his tip and left the sensitive internal muscles chilled before he pushed again and another ridge popped into her folds. His eyes lidded as he let out a hissing groan. The heat of her was near painful, but it didn't take away from the pleasure, it only enhanced it! It was a pleasure that was worth each clench of feverishly hot muscles around him.
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Lashane tensed and tried to bugle out as the tip pierced her body. It felt like ice as it sank into her and spread her open. Her newly healed body was sensitive and each movement sent an echoing shudder through her as he started to force inch by slow inch inside of her. The teeth gripped her throat harder and almost reached the point of choking her as the first ridge popped into her and she felt the serrated edge that lined it. It dragged through her before her walls clamped down and intimately introduced her to the strange protuberances that ran along it. The moment the precum spilled out into her she writhed and twisted. The fiery cold dribbled into her and seemed to freeze along her passage before he thrust forward and drug it deeper.
With Sithen it had been hot and hard, yet pleasurable in strange ways. His body had been made to fit her. In this she was left gasping and crying out because nothing about him was made for her. The ridges started to sink into her caused her twitch and call out as the serrated edges rubbed her almost raw when he traveled deeper. Above all, the coldness stung and burned as her walls clenched and the first shiver traveled through her. Her teeth chattered as he seemed to penetrate that hidden warmth in her core before he began to pull out. The ridges popped free with lewd slick noises as his hips rose up above her leaving her twitching in reaction. Her folds were forced painfully wide and tried to clench up to force his body out of hers.
The next thrust that came made her back arch and her front paws scrabbled against his armored chest. The ridges tore through her body and shoved the spade shaped tip up against her cervix before bubbling out more of the cold precum. The icy slickness coated her inner walls as it froze and melted in her passage. The lubricant allowed the shaft to pull out with a slick noise and the sensation of vibrations from the serrated ridges before he thrust forward again. The beast thrust his hips with a groan of pleasure as he used each inch of his body to help with the motion. His tail coiled hard around hers, his paws clenched against her toes and his wings dug in against her wing muscles forcing her back against him as he crammed himself in almost to the base before pulling out.
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The fiery heat of the female slowly cooled under his constant deposit of precum inside of her. His tip left trails of it leaking behind before he rammed forward again and sent her rocking beneath her. The walls seemed to part just for him as he worked at driving himself deeper. The closed down and molded around his girth so that each pull out was a struggle against their tightness only to feel them parting open around him again. The calls became muted as her entire frame started to shake beneath him and cool down under his influence. He drew in her scent while he shifted his grip on her neck and watched her lips writhe back as he slammed forward again. The ridges popping in rapidly until his shaft bowed when he tried to force more into her.
The spade shape tip of him soon continuously left slick splatter of precum that was running from him and into her passage. He could feel the ice breaking up under her heat and the constant rocking of his body. He shifted his grip of his wings to hold her fore shoulders and pulled her backwards against him as he strained forward. His girth bowed almost to the point of pain and he let out a hiss of frustration before the cone shaped tip parted and wedged into the muscled ring of her cervix. He slipped into her completely with a muffled groan of pleasure while his head pierced into her egg chamber. The spade shape of it left the thickest parts holding her open while her tail strained to lash itself free of his own.
He gave a rocking push forward so that he barely shifted his ridged length inside of her and felt each pulse, twitch and ripple that passed through those muscles. He let out a shuddering breath before bracing himself and yanked his hips back tearing himself outwards so that his ridges came free in a long line. The tip of him popped out with a slick wet noise and splattered her stomach with a mixture of her own body's lubricants and his own icy pre before he drove forward again. The tip of him forced her open once more around him as he didn't stop until he'd battered his way through her cervix and his scales rubbed up against her own vent. It was the closest thing to uninhibited pleasure he had felt since his capture.
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Lashane twisted and let out a stuttering cry of pain as the head battered up against her cervix, the very feel of it was bruising. The sudden forced penetration let her feel the puckered opening being forced inwards and wrapped around him until he wedge in until his thickest point. The halt over her let her experience every thick inch of him resting inside of her. It was cold and heavy, not as cold as the ice, but it left her trembling in reaction. The tip of him forced out a sudden thick splash of pre that coated her egg chamber and froze on contact, her body tightened around him. She had no chance to prepare for the next move when he yanked backwards and tore himself from her.
She roared out her pain as her ravaged body was nearly torn raw from the serrated ridges that yanked free followed by the head. She could feel her outer lips splayed open from the violation as the tip of him oozed out against her stomach and left a cold trail there. The former mage barely recovered from that shock and then he drove back inside of her until he'd forced himself into her cervix again. Her back arched as she shrieked out and he was pulling back again. His tail rippled around her own as he started to thrust in hard sharp movements inside of her. The simple steady penetration had been nothing compared to the way the ridges were being yanked free and then stuffed inside of her. The tip of him seemed to leave a constant icy trail through her core that never seemed to warm.
She struggled and clawed at his chest as she tried to drive him off of her, but it was as if she didn't exist. The pulse of his thoughts didn't even acknowledge that she existed, it was as if he were miles away in another world, another time and her body was simply used as a vehicle to transport him away. Her haunches rocked upwards as the thrusts started to shorten and the tip was pushed in and yanked free of her cervix. The cold numbing the ring of muscles until it was only the ridges that made her writhe and call out. The beastial noises of grunting and snarls against her neck could be felt and heard as the first strand of saliva trailed from his open maw to freeze over her scales. She could feel him thickening along the ridges, they were growing wider forcing her to stretch open further by the moment.
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The Wyvern had forgotten the intensity and heat of mating. He had forgotten what it brought along with it. It was everything that he lusted and longed for. It was a cold glacier where he was king and the body of his mate beneath him. It was the air thick with winter in his lungs and the feel of dominating the world around him. It was freedom again. His mind flew free to those shattered memories and latched onto them as something good and right. The walls that wrapped around his shaft made a shudder pass through his spine as he started to work himself into a frenzy of thrusts. The sound of his scales hitting against her own barely penetrated his mind. Her screams blocked out under his own onslaught of memories.
He felt his climax coming as a pressure in his loins as he took up a frantic pace. Only his base ridge popping out of her reddened and abused folds before slamming forward again. The constriction of her cervix around him was enough sensation to drive him wild as he penetrated it over and over again. His claws dug in harder against her hind paws before he rocked his back down and released her shoulders to spread his wings open wide. His entire body locked up as he screamed out his pleasure against her neck and clenched his jaws down hard enough he tasted the hot coppery splatter of her blood against his tongue. Her walls clung around him as the first jet of his seed was forced up along his turgid ebony shaft.
It came from him in thick cold ropes that splattered into her egg chamber. The sticky strands hit against the inner walls and froze the moment they hit. The heat of her own body would warm the semen and give it life within her, just as a fertile mate's body would. He forced up spray after spray as he pushed forward to feel her haunches roll upwards. The pleasure almost blinded him as he squeezed his eyes shut tight and his mind latched onto his memories. Each time her walls milked and pulled around him they caused another thick rush of his seed to erupt into her body. She kicked and struggled under him as her cries started to shatter his carefully made up memories one by one in her distress. He gave a brutal thrust forward and snarled trying to stop her struggles.
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The thickening of the shaft left her body strained open in a taut ring around the textured cock driven inside of her. She struggled to jerk herself free from underneath him before he suddenly lunged and she felt the bloating shaft suddenly pulse and the first thick rush splatter inside of her. The cold was worse than the ice as it coated her inner walls. It almost burned her flesh as she kicked and snarled beneath him. Her walls tensed up and tried to close down to warm herself up only to feel the next eruption spill from the tip and wash through her. It hit along her walls and deep in her chamber as it immediately froze and then started to thaw and drool along her cervix.
The pulses grew harder as she tried to kick him off and let out a hissing whine through the trembling that ran through her. The moment she grew truly violent his hips gave a savage thrust that popped his tip completely through her cervix and made her screech out before going as still as she could. She could almost feel the beasts heart beat through the pulses in his shaft as he emptied into her body. The cold that flooded her stomach spread outwards until she felt as if she had never known warmth in her life. She squeezed her eyes shut and clamped her jaws closed before letting out a stuttering groan deep in her throat. Finally the spill stopped just as she felt as if she were going to pass out and the beast released her paws.
The sudden pull of his hips was followed what a sickening wet noise as his tip yanked back through her cervix. She had a moment of relaxing her guard before the tip suddenly erupted out again in thick heavy strands that pulsed against her cervix. They layered over each other and froze to make a seal over her cervix before he let his softening cock pull out of her entirely and flop free. Even as she felt her body melting the plug it didn't stir from keeping her sealed with the thick melted seed inside of her egg chamber. The teeth moved from her neck and she gave a shove and scrambled away from him with her eyes bulging in fear and pain. She all but limped to push back against a wall and sent a mental blast of outrage and threat, though she could not hide her despair.
The Wyvern stood up on his haunches and she watched nauseously as his girth pulled back into his vent. It glittered wetly and she saw the ridges as they pulled back inside. The torturous length finally disappeared entirely as she huddled back against the wall seething with outrage. The beast's head tilted towards her and his pupils seemed to regain normalcy as he considered her, though his thoughts didn't beat against her own. He was as silent as a rock as he stared at her without stirring a muscle. Something seemed to well up in the orbs as he broke her gaze to look away for a long moment and stared off into the distance. She started to creep away when the beast launched itself towards her in a savage attack. He was going to kill her...
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The Wyvern felt the last edge of his pleasure fade away as a pleasant memory that seemed fresher and more whole then any he had felt in years. He watched the female scramble away and let his gaze fixate on her as he probed his mind for something. It was like so many of his memories, they were scrapes and hints of what had been, but nothing solid. The tattered memories ghosted over his recollections so no one piece gave him a vision of the whole until he tried to piece them with what he had just felt. A sort of horror formed inside of him as he realized exactly what he had done. The longer he looked at the shaking, enraged, frightened young female the horror grew. This was not the creature that had killed his mate. That creature was likely long dead with so many others.
She wasn't even an adult! She was a subadult if that! She had been captured as surely as he had been and tossed into this prison to rot without the freedom of flight or even the warmth her kind so obviously craved. It was as if that horror let loose a dam inside of him. The pleasure of his act overwhelmed with the disgust of what he had done and what he had become. He had acted as no more than a mindless animal. He was becoming a mindless animal! He fumbled after his memories, but only the emotions remained clear in his head. It was as if he had surfaced from deep waters to breathe in a great gulp of air and felt his sanity return so briefly. It was not her fault. He had done more than just injure her body, he had gone against everything his kind had believed.
A treacherous voice in his head told her to kill her, to make sure none ever found out how he had fallen to this state. He could close those accusing eyes forever if he only killed her. She was weak and young, he was old and sly, it would hardly be a battle. The thoughts came faster and faster, but that one gasp of sanity remained behind as he turned his head away from her. There was only one real answer here. He braced himself and twisted his body to sudden rush her with his wings spread and teeth bared. He unsheathed his claws as he prepared to lunge on top of her and take her to the ground with him. The sound of his bugle echoed over the small area as he closed.
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Lashane felt terror and rage as the Wyvern attacked. She had known it might come to this the moment he had attacked her before, but she was still unprepared. She reared up on her hind legs and spread her own wings like a shield at her back and launched herself at him rather than wait. They clashed together with snapping jaws and the hit of scaled chest upon scaled chest. Her fore claws scraped over his sides as she snapped at his muzzle and he tried to dart his down towards her own. His eyes locked with hers as she used her wings to batter at his sides and felt one of his feet raise up to rake against her stomach.
:KILL ME!: The voice screamed through her mind until she faltered and felt stunned.
The wyvern didn't hesitate to force her backwards and his jaws came within a hair of snapping her own neck. She rolled to one side and leapt up so that he hit against the wall and gave his head a shake to clear it. The maddened eyes glared at her before he rushed at her again leaving her no chance to figure out what the mind voice had meant. Was it his? Who's was it? The bone shattering rock of his body against hers almost sent her over the edge of the cliff before she dug her hind paws down against the slickened icy rocks and pushed him backwards towards firmer ground. She could feel a gouge along her side as her own claws tore through a portion of his wings.
:KILL ME, LITTLE FOOL!: The voice screamed again and the beasts head jerked back slightly as if he were getting ready to go in for a killing blow of his own.
She had no chance to reason if he was trying to distract her so he could more easily get past her defenses. She had no moment to stop and let her human side take control over the distasteful act. She didn't even think with the dragon side of her save with instinct alone. When his head went back like a strike snake her own head darted in and her jaws clamped down against his neck. Her teeth sank against the armored plates and cracked them until she reached the muscle beneath them and severed the great artery that ran along his neck and almost pierced the windpipe. She felt a cold wash of blood coating her muzzle before the weight of the other beast threw her back against the wall and she stumbled.
Lashane froze as she saw the dragon faltering and making a lunge forward. The blood was like liquid silver rolling down his chest and scales. Each glittering drop hit against the ground and spread ice beneath him as he swung his head back and forth like a dumb mute animal. She froze in her act of going back to attack as her eyes spread open wide in horror at the sight. She had killed him, that wound was a death sentence. For a moment both parts of her were in agreement as to the wrongness of it. Dragons didn't kill each other this way. He was likely the last of his kind and she had sentenced him to death. There was no chance of reviving his race, no chance of his survival. The eyes that rolled towards her when he crumpled to the ground held a kind of sanity in them.
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So this was how it would end. The Wyvern let his legs go out from under him as his thoughts shattered and began to grow sluggish. Each beat of his heart spilled more of his silver blood over the rocks beneath him. It was a mortal wound, it was what he had wanted. He couldn't remain alive with her here, she needed to live. He was past redemption for what he had done. He was nothing but a beast. He felt the tattered thoughts trying to piece themselves together as a shadow loomed over him and he rolled his eyes up to see her dark grey form looking down at him. Her eyes swirled with distress and her mind pulsed against his with fear, anger, regret and sorrow.
She was so young to feel such things. Did she know? Did she know he had forced her to kill him? She was the best hope that another species of dragon might once again be revived. Her body was young and fertile, she would survive. His thoughts started to trail away from his body as the darkness welled up to greet him. He welcomed it. He had fought for so long and for so hard to live, it was time to lay down the battle and let the young pick it up. He blinked his eyes and hissed out as a memory chased through his mind. It was a gift that blossomed in his mind. More precious than flight and his wings. More precious than his freedom. Carrak, his name was Carrak.
:Carrak: He brushed her mind with his own feebly. :I am Carrak. Thank you...:
:Carrak! Don't: Her voice reached for his as her rage for him faded under the desperation to keep him here.
:Thank you...: He breathed out again, brushing her mind with his relief and sorrow before his mind grip on her faltered and faded.
The darkness wrapped around his mind and sucked him under as he looked up at the pale grey sky and the glittering colors of the female's eyes looking down at him. He hoped she would forgive him. He hoped she found the freedom he had longed to obtain, he hoped she forgave him his trespasses. He plunged into his freedom with all his being, the only freedom that had been left to him. His body gave one last shudder as he clung to his name and then rattled out his final breath. The last Ice Wyvern passed into eternity beneath the eyes of a former enemy as his only guard.
++++
Lashane stared in horror as the life leaked away from her enemy and her eyes swirled faster with the dark blacks and grey of sorrow. The last of his kind, mad though he might have been, and she had slain him. The world seemed to darken around her as she shivered and hunched in on herself. The part of her that would always be a dragon mourned what she had done, it was wrong no matter what he had done to her. She had killed him in self defense but the very wrongness of it wouldn't leave her. Even his gratitude and the feel of relief from him hadn't been enough to wipe away the stain his death left on her soul. She had taken away something that should have always been in this world and now never would be.
She reared back on her haunches and extended her head as far as it would go before she raised her voice in a high pitched keen. It rose up higher and higher until the icicles around her trembled and shattered as she gave voice to her mourning. Her eyes lidded and then closed as her voice wove out a song of sorrow and joy that instinct lead her through. It was sorrow that the empty shell at her feet had died so ignobly, yet joy in the fact he had escaped his imprisonment. Her voice rose and fell as night started to fall into place and her chest tightened through her song. Carrak. She would not forget his name. She would hold onto it until the stars died if she had too, but his name would not be forgotten through the passage of time.
Her song ended and she dropped down onto her haunches again and moved away from the cold stiffened body that was cast onto the icy rocks. Somewhere deep inside an anger, a hatred started to form. It was fueled not only by the part of her that was a dragon, but the human in her joined in with it. The Empire had destroyed that beast. They had broken it and driven it mad before casting it here to die thousands of miles from where it should have passed away with its own kind. Timat, Emperor Hylar, the faces of many others rolled through her mind as her stomach heated up with rage. Even the human part of her couldn't argue that it was only an animal. She had felt his thoughts. Someone's blood would be spilled for the beast they destroyed.
= = = =
Emperor Hylar shifted slightly in his seat on the balcony and listened to the unearthly keen that was drifting towards the palace. Most of the workers had stopped to listen to the shrill noise that seemed to eat its way to the bone. He'd find out in the morning what had happened in the pen, he had already seen the pale face of his guard and knew if he asked it of them they'd rebel against the order. Foolishness. It was probably the female in heat or perhaps the male calling to her. They were starting to get jumpy lately, more so then normal. The constant word from the shore was making them nervous and today had been no exception.
He looked down at the parchment in his hand and the garbled words of that blasted Mage Timat requesting more aid be sent to him. The half coherent message talked about the dragon and armies that were closing in on the bay. That had been sent two weeks ago and now he had a fresher correspondence from the General in charge. It had arrived just three days ago by a horse backed messenger. The report had been Timat had not left his quarters in weeks, not even to chase after the local maids. He was creating charms and spells to try and protect himself from the dragon that had somehow managed to escape with Baen all without getting a scratch. It pled that another representative be sent and even hinted that the Mage had finally lost what little of his mind he had left.
Hylar had little doubt that Baen had escaped, but the nonsense about the dragon abducting him was pure folly. What was more likely was the fact that one of the guards had slipped up and Baen had been rescued by his own people or they had managed to find a mage of their own to create a credible illusion of a dragon. None of those beasts could be tamed and not a one of them would come to rescue a human. Eat them, yes. Rescue them, no. Did they believe that his age was causing his mind to wander and grow less sharp? If they were he would have punishments in store for each of them. He was not about to let them run rough shod over him with tall tales!
"HIGHNESS!" A page stumbled onto the balcony out of breath and clutching what looked like a worn piece of paper. "Quick, come quick, Most Royal, the Council sends for your advice!"
"Advice? And what advice would that be?" He looked at the young lad who sketched a bow and trembled slightly under the direct gaze of his Emperor.
"The barbarians, they've captured Vanport and are coming up the river! Another town, Rale, is not reporting and they guard the other river!" The boy panted out with the whites of his eyes showing his fear at his own news.
"Tell them I'm coming, quickly now." He dismissed the boy with one hand as he stood. The youngster took off like a scared rabbit. He hoped it was only rumor that caused his panic. Those rivers lead straight to the capitol and were wide enough to host ships that could also travel the ocean. If they had captured it... He shook the thought away as he turned to go inside. The unearthly keen of the dragon followed him close behind as he left for the Council like a ominous omen.
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