FSE

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Part 1

The mighty dragon spied his prey, but remained hidden out of sight beyond the trees. His green hide blending in with the leaves and undergrowth, his brown feathery wings pulled tight against his flanks. He was hungry and the deer, only one pounce away, would cure that hunger easily.

Yogoloth stalked forward, his claws carving up the loose dirt, eyes never once leaving the oblivious meal. The doe looked up for a moment and the hybrid froze in place, not one muscle twitched and he waited for the deer to either spot him and run, or return to its grazing. It's ears flicked this way and that before its head returned to the dry grass.

Yogoloth surged forward and pounced on the deer, his claws sank into his prey and his teeth latched onto its neck. It struggled briefly but the dragon held on tight and after a while it began to tire. A powerful gust of wind suddenly blew through the trees. He looked up from his kill in time to see a huge green dragon land just outside the cave, her powerful wings throwing up dust and loose stones as she landed.

"Mother!", Yogoloth cried out, abandoning the deer bone he had tightly in his grip and bounded over to her. She lowered her head and nuzzled her little fledgling affectionately and he licked at her mouth hungrily in return. The great dragoness growled slightly and pulled back.

"Hungry again, I see?", she said looking around the cave, the upper most in her lair. "What were you doing with that old bone?"

"It's a deer!", Yogoloth said and then proudly added, "It put up a struggle but I held on tight!"

"Is that so? Well then, I suppose you've earned your meal for today.", his mother said with exaggerated pride. Her little fledgling jumped about and then stumbled a little after misjudging a particularly high jump.

She looked back out of the cave briefly and shook some rain water from her leathery wings, the droplets flew in all directions and forced Yogoloth to turn his head away and close his eyes. But the cold shower was soon forgotten as the scaly green dragoness moved her head down and brought some of her recent kill up from her nesting bladder. The chunks of meat and bones had barely hit the rocky cave floor before Yogoloth pounced forward and dug his snout into the feast.

The dragoness settled down and folded her wings against her flanks, her breathing began to slow after her hunt and long flight. She watched her little fledgling as he attacked the meal as though he were fighting it himself. Yogoloth soon finished his meal and he'd made a complete mess of himself in the process, his head, neck and fore legs were now more red than green. She leaned forward and gave his face a long lick, he squirmed in protest.

"I can clean myself!", he cried out as her tongue traced another line across his bloody snout. He tried to wriggle free but she quickly pinned him with a fore leg and continued her assault.

"If you're more careful how you eat...", she said between licks, "You won't need to clean so often..."

"Stop!", he growled playfully and she growled back, much louder.

There was a brief scuffle, Yogoloth was less than a third of the length of his mother and a mere fraction of her strength and weight. The only result of his resistance was totally exhausting himself and ending up with twice as many licks as would have been needed otherwise.

The little hybrid lay still, trapped within his mother's fore legs, panting heavily as the great dragoness finished cleaning the fur on the back of his neck. He knew he wouldn't be able to win the fight, but deep down he didn't want to. He felt comfortable, safe, secure in his mother's lair and wrapped in her scaly embrace. He soon felt tired, his belly heavy with deer meat and his strange purple eyes felt heavy as he slowly drifted into sleep.

Part 2

The dragon fledgling woke slowly and yawned, purple tongue curling up as the yawn turned into a stretch and spread through his whole body. Yogoloth blinked a few times as his eyes cleared and he began to fully wake from a contented sleep. Then he noticed he was alone in the cave and bounded off to find his mother, she said they would go flying again today.

The scaly dragoness had not long begun to teach him the basics, but he'd had to figure out quite a bit himself, he thought proudly. His feathery gryphon-like wings were very different to her leathery wings and many of the techniques just didn't translate too well. It was really fun though, either way. Yogoloth found her in one of the upper chambers and jumped about with excitement.

"Can we go flying now?", he said, not even trying to hide his excitement.

"Listen. What do you hear?", was her reply. The little fledgling stopped jumping and his furry ears tilted and turned, wondering what he was supposed to be listening for.

"The rain?", he said slowly and then suddenly realised what it meant, "But! But! It doesn't sound too heavy!"

"Maybe not for me, but you're small and your feathers will get soaked.", she said walking over to him and nuzzling him affectionately. He half-heartedly pushed back against her touch, but he really wanted to go flying.

"I hate feathers...", Yogoloth said with feeling, then slumped back onto his rump and sulked. His mother sat down in front of him stretched a single wing out to the side, as though presenting the limb for him to inspect.

"Hold out your wing like this.", she said calmly and slightly too seriously for the fledgling's liking, but he slowly obeyed.

"Why do-", he begun but he stopped as one of his mother's fore paws lunged forwards between the feathers of the wing. Before Yogoloth could pull it back she sliced down and the claws harmlessly glided between them and out the bottom. The young hybrid yelped out in shock and pulled his wing back, but apart from a few ruffled feathers, it was unharmed.

"Now your turn.", the great dragoness said, moving her outstretched wing a little closer, the veins clearly visible in the strong leathery membranes.

"What!?", the fledgling said, still in shock and the sudden 'attack', "No!"

"Fine.", she said without emotion. She raised her other fore leg and almost imperceptibly took a breath before plunging one of her claws through the membrane of her own wing. She hissed at the pain and then slashed downwards, tearing the leathery flesh right the way down to the edge. The blood splashed against his snout and the floor. Her growl was one of the loudest Yogoloth had ever heard, but he was too horrified to react to it.

"Don't! Stop it!", he growled, partly in fear and partly in anger. Why would she do such a thing?

"I don't know if you will get your own magic.", she growled, breathing deeply, "But even if you do, those wings will probably save your life. I never want to hear you say that EVER again."

Yogoloth leapt forward and wrapped his fore legs around her neck, his eyes unable to tear themselves away from her shredded wing. She gripped him tightly in return, perhaps even a little too tightly. As he watched, the membrane started to pull together and, through the pain, a deep part of himself was amazed at her power. He even tried to reach his senses out, to detect the magic she was using, but he hadn't really got the hang of it yet. Another part of him really hoped he'd be as powerful as his mother when he was older, as he watched the last of the wound seal up, leaving no trace that the injury even existed at all.

"A story then.", the dragoness said calmly, as though nothing had happened at all. Her fledgling groaned, he'd rather be out flying.

"Boring..."

"A story about gryphons.", she elaborated. Yogoloth's ears suddenly perked up and they both smiled. He was happy to hear anything about gryphons, he'd never met one and found them so very interesting. His mother was happy that he was interested in his heritage, she wanted him to be proud of what he was, if he didn't like who and what he was, how would he expect others to do the same? Dragon and gryphon history went back a long time and they were closer than many would like to admit.

Part 3

Yogoloth sat relatively still and mostly quiet. He knew from past experience that jumping around and making lots of noise could easily change his mother's mind about what story to tell. The hybrid fledgling wondered if this would be a new story or a story he'd heard before. Either way, it was about gryphons, and that's all that mattered right now.

"This is a story first told by your fifth mother, and has been passed down from mother to fledgling since then. But it's not just her story, what happened affected over a dozen dragons, hundreds of gryphons and thousands of the civilised races.", she spoke slowly, using her 'story telling voice'. Yogoloth grinned as he settled down, this didn't sound like a story he'd heard before.

"Dragons have always preferred solitude, often going decades without meeting another intelligent creature. Gryphons, on the other hand, live in large colonies which could have dozens of gryphons, all living in a place no larger than this lair. Once dragons fly their mother's or father's nest, they only normally come together to breed and raise their young."

"Gryphons and dragons might hunt the same prey and even live in the same areas, but it's rare for us to fight. Both gryphons and dragons respect territory and in a fight between a group of gryphons and a dragon, there would be death on both sides. Our eggs and young are vulnerable too, so we keep things friendly. Besides, once a dragon and a gryphon get to know each other, we find we have a lot in common."

"Is that what happened to you and father?", Yogoloth interrupted. She frowned slightly and paused for a moment.

"Yes... I suppose it was.", she said thoughtfully before continuing, "Anyway, where was I..."

"Yes, dragons and gryphons got on well enough, possibly even better than dragons got on with other dragons. The same is true today. But some gryphons were jealous of the magic that dragons possess, they were jealous of what we could do, and those gryphons without any magic at all, even more so. So when ever possible they would share their life forces to shape magic that they had no right to wield."

"But they became greedy and soon that jealousy became anger, which then sickened into hate and they sought to recruit other gryphons to their cause. At first, they would accept 'no' for an answer, but it did not take long for their greed and lust for power to lead them to killing those that stood in their way. Adults and hatchings alike were killed for their life force, if they refused to join."

"But! But that's breaking the anc- the anci- the old laws!", Yogoloth exclaimed in shock.

"Back then, the ancient laws hadn't been forged. This is the reason why they were. Now can I continue?", the dragoness looked at Yogoloth and narrowed her eyes. He quickly clamped his snout shut and nodded excitedly.

"These rebel-gryphons were feared by independent gryphons throughout the region. They mostly worked in secret, but many were so proud of their 'work' that they permanently changed the colour of their feathers with magic alone, such was the strength of their power. It was not unheard of for entire gryphon colonies to vanish without a trace, if they refused to join. The moment these gryphons decided to spread out, and began to harvest the civilised race's life forces, was the moment that they earned their name, the Scarlet Feathers."

"What IS scarlet?", Yogoloth's eyes were fixed on his mother, so engrossed he was in the story so far.

"Well, it's a bright red. Like... like...", his mother began.

"Like deer blood on snow?"

"Well, yes actually. Anyway, would you like me to carry on the story or talk about shades of red?", great dragoness asked playfully.

Part 4

"So, the Scarlet Feathers spread their influence and began to delve deeply into shaping life force. They devised ways to capture and store this magic outside of themselves, into circles of stone which they hid in remote corners of the realm. This knowledge was kept secret within their most trusted circles. These were the places where they would conduct initiation ceremonies, practice their art and sacrifice those who got in their way."

"As all of this happened, two of the oldest and wisest dragons looked on from afar. The Scarred Twins realised that this was a problem that would soon spread beyond the realms of gryphons and the civilised races. They realised that for the second time ever, dragons would have to take direct action together to prevent these Scarlet Feathers from becoming too powerful and threatening The Balance."

"Did they call themselves that?", Yogoloth interrupted quietly.

"No, that was just a name that the gryphons gave them. We might not name our young and we rarely name ourselves, but the deeds of some dragons demand they be given a name."

"But you gave me a name!", the young fledgling said almost accusingly.

"I knew that one day you will want to meet other gryphons and they'll want to know your name.", she said simply and smiled down at her fledgling. Yogoloth had gradually snuggled up against her flank but showed no signs of sleepiness, his purple eyes were bright and his fluffy brown ears were alert.

"So, the Scarred Twins worked their magic and sent word out to all dragons in the region. Their message was heard far and wide. Some dragons ignored the call, but many others answered, understanding the severity of the situation. In total fourteen dragons came forth, most were young, not long from the nest, others were a little older, but a few were even older than I am. One of the younger dragons was your fifth mother, she was only one hundred and thirteen at the time."

"As is tradition, the oldest of the dragons took charge of the group, exchanged signatures with each member, assessed strengths and shared out information. At the same time, the Scarred Twins flew to meet with the gryphons who opposed the Scarlet Feathers. They had been fighting bravely, but the power they fought against was far greater than theirs. The intervention of dragons was mostly welcome, but also slightly embarrassing for some. The gryphons, quite rightly, wanted to deal with this matter themselves, but it had long passed from being a gryphon-only threat."

"However, this turn of events did not go unnoticed by the Scarlet Feathers. They realised that dragons were now acting against them and they saw us as a significant threat. They dared to start hunting dragons directly, hoping to eliminate the threat before it became too organised."

Yogoloth eyes widened but was otherwise totally engrossed. His mother had never told him a story with so much widespread violence before, part of his mind wondered if there were any descendants of the Scarlet Feathers were still around today... lurking in the shadows, waiting for young dragons to be left unguarded. He pulled closer to his mother's comforting scales. The subtly of the act was not lost on the great dragoness, who hid her amusement well.

"They didn't just target those dragons who had joined forces against them, they specifically sought out the liars of dragons. Although they never committed the crime of destroying an egg, they had no qualms in slaying hatchlings and fledglings alike...", she leaned in closer as Yogoloth's ears dropped down low, "Often while their parent was out hunting... sometimes taking their life force while they slept..."

"Stop it!", Yogoloth pulled away from her and growled in desperation, his ears almost flat against his head. His mother pulled back and laughed, slightly malevolently. Perhaps she shouldn't have enjoyed that as much as she did, but it had been too tempting to ignore.

"You're right, maybe you're a little too young for a story like this.", she teased. Yogoloth growled again, but not aggressively.

"I am old enough! But you did that on purpose!", he protested adamantly.

"Well, I suppose I better carry on then.", she said as her fledgling began to settle back down against her flank.

Part 5

"The magic that the Scarlet Feathers wielded, could not be held for long before it dissipated. Even the mightiest of dragons have limits on how much magic he or she can gather. So their attacks had to be swift and decisive. We will never know how many dragons were slain by the Scarlet Feathers in this wave of attacks, but we do know that out of those who were targeted, two not only survived, but also joined the fight. They had both lost their broods and wanted blood."

"We dragons, no matter our skill, can wield levels of magic that exceed that which even a most skilled gryphon can. So young dragons flew with groups of gryphons, lending their physical strength and also their magical strength to the group. They flew under the leadership of the gryphon in charge of that wing, which didn't always go down too well."

"But if dragons are better and stronger than gryphons, then we should be in charge!", Yogoloth said carefully. His mother sighed, as she often did when she disapproved of something that her young fledgling said.

"We might be stronger than gryphons, but we're not better. The Balance works because in any fight between a dragon and a gryphon colony, there would be many deaths, on both sides. Young would be left parentless, liars would be left unprotected and neither side would gain anything.", the great dragoness nearly growled.

"Besides, the older dragons, those with the greatest magics, worked more secretly and a couple sought out the Scarlet Feathers and took the fight directly to them. Without access to their stone circles, they were far more vulnerable and an old dragon, with powerful magic can handle a small group of gryphons without much trouble. So the Scarlet Feathers were gradually driven back to their hiding places."

"If it were not for one gryphon in particular, these battles would have raged on and off for decades more. She had been named Shuduca by her parents, but her deeds would earn her another name entirely. She had lost her colony to the Scarlet Feathers, her parents, brothers, sisters, all killed because they dared to resist. She was both skilled and powerful with magic, but realised she was not strong enough to stand against them."

"So she hunted a number of deer, trapping them together so she could harvest their life forces. With this extra power she was able to permanently change her feathers to match the same reds that the Scarlet Feathers used, she sought to infiltrate their ranks, but a simple change of colour would not be enough. It had taken her years to climb through their ranks, and by the time they had retreated and hidden themselves away, she knew it was time."

"She betrayed them; captured their leader and dissipated the magic in their circle just as the gryphons and dragons arrived, those that she had called in. It was swift and bloody, but with the Scarlet Feathers leader captured, it was only a matter of time before they would know the locations of every hideout. The dragons kept him alive with their magic, while the gryphons persuaded him to reveal the locations, he lasted nearly seven hours before he told them everything."

"The gryphons... hurt him until he talked?", Yogoloth asked quietly, slightly subdued. The dragoness looked down at him and thought for a moment before continuing.

"It's called torture. They bit him, clawed him, burned him, all without killing him, promising to stop if he told them what he knew. Anything they could think of that would be worse for him than betraying the rest of the Scarlet Feathers.", she paused before adding in more serious tones, "Sometimes, it's necessary."

"Oh...", the fledgling's young brain slowly processed this new concept. It was like hunting without killing, he'd sometimes left prey, that his mother had brought him, alive to draw out the fun himself. He suddenly didn't feel like doing that anymore.

"In the end, the Scarlet Feathers were found in their dens, but they were not willing to give up quietly. They fought hard with their stolen magic, with their talons, with their beaks, with everything they had. The fear had been that they would use every death on either side to strengthen themselves. But we deprived them of that, dissapaiting the life forces that were released before they had chance to use them. Dragons were pivotal in this, managing to control these high levels of magic quickly."

"More dragons and gryphons died in those days than ever before in our remembered history. Your fifth mother fought in those last few battles and, although still young, she fought along side elder dragon and younger gryphon alike. In the battles that ensued, slowly, the Scarlet Feathers were either wiped out or they surrendered. It was over, the Scarlet Feathers were no more."

Part 6

"That cannot be the end of the story!", Yogoloth whined after a long pause.

"You're right, it's not.", the scaly dragoness smiled before continuing.

"Those gryphons who surrendered, knew they would not be allowed to live after what they'd done. They had surrendered, not to save their own lives, but to ensure that their young would not be slain nor left to die. There were numerous gryphon eggs, hatchlings and fledglings who would be left with no parents to care for them. So it was agreed that they would be cared for in exchange for a peaceful end to all the violence."

"However, there had been many losses on both sides and there were simply not enough adult gryphons available to care for all the orphaned gryphons. So, many dragons agreed to raise gryphons as their own, some already had broods, others would care for young for the first time. But there is not a huge difference between caring for a young gryphon and caring for a young dragon."

"So... a long time ago... dragons raised gryphons!", Yogoloth asked excitedly. She nodded.

"It sometimes happens even now.", his mother replied, "Your fifth and second mother both raised gryphons as their own."

Yogoloth seemed to think for a moment, before his ears perked up.

"Did you ever meet the gryphon that my second mother raised?", he asked, still very much excited by this entire concept. His mother frowned slightly as though in thought.

"We grew up together, I named you after him.", she said quietly. Yogoloth's mind boggled for a moment, his mother had a gryphon 'brother'?

"Oh! Where is he now?"

"This was over five hundred years ago. Gryphons just don't live that long."

"Oh...", the young fledgling said, suddenly wondering about his own future, "Will I live as long as you?"

"I think so. You're aging slowly like a true dragon. If you were a pure gryphon, you'd be out flying and hunting on your own by now.", she didn't sound too sure to Yogoloth's ears, but it made sense.

"So what happened too all the gryphons that were raised by dragons?"

"Most survived, grew up and once they were old enough, they flew the nest, looking for mates of their own and colonies to join. Being raised by dragons gave them quite a different view of the world though. Some settled into colony life well, others not so much. It even affected the dragons too. Being raised along side a gryphon gives you... a different perspective... on a lot of things."

"There were plenty of very close relationships formed at that time and over the following century or so. Fighting along side each other, losing friends and family, growing up together. When you realise that you're not so different, that common ground can build some very strong friendships. It was around that time that the laws regarding hybrids were formed too."

The dragoness stopped for a moment and took a slow deep breath. Old painful memories beginning to surface after so long buried by her love for her young. Yogoloth sensed something was wrong and affectionately rested the side of his head on her flank. She closed her eyes briefly, slowly shook her head and smiled.

"Anyway, do you have any more questions?", she said, changing the subject as smoothly as she could.

"What happened to... the gryphon who betrayed the Scarlet Feathers?", he asked after a thoughtful pause.

"Shuduca?", she asked, Yogoloth nodded, "Well, she had spent many years with the Scarlet Feathers. She never spoke about what she had seen, nor what she had done to climb their ranks. She never really rejoined gryphon society either, instead choosing to live alone. It is said that one day, years later, she visited the Scarred Twins and asked them to punish her for her crimes. The story goes that they agreed. Afterwards, they burned her body with dragon fire until there was nothing left for predators, an honourable dragon's death."

"But she was on our side the whole time!", Yogoloth protested. The great dragoness stretched her wings, casting a great darkness over the two of them before she replied.

"Regardless, she might have done things that she couldn't live with any more. Terrible things to her fellow gryphons. Some say she was worried that others might seek her out and try to discover the secrets of the Scarlet Feathers that only she now knew. Who knows? But if a dragon or gryphon decides it is their time to die, who are we to say otherwise?"

She tilted her head slightly and her ear frills twitched. Yogoloth listened for whatever his mother had heard. His ears perked up.

"It's stopped raining!", the young fledgling practically leapt out of his mother's loose embrace and started jumping around with a big toothy grin on his face.

"Oh, so you want to listen to a story AND go flying too?", she teased as she slowly stretched out her limbs as she rose to her feet. The scaly dragoness admitted that he'd been mostly quiet and had behaved himself well enough. She strolled out of the cave and stared out across her domain.

"Come on then, let's see if you get get into the air without me carrying you this time.", she challenged the excited little fledgling.