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Cold and wet, slathering stuff that worked against Alaine's scales in such a way that he wrinkled his lips back and fought against the urge to snap up one of the elves in retribution. He allowed himself to be handled, but that did not mean he would tolerate their disrespect, or take liberties with him. The moment they did he would strike out against them, he had already taught two that he would not allow them to forget that he was a dragon. One walked with a limb, strained, but alright, but another had dared to clamber onto his back! Onto his spine to get at his wing bases and that one he had taught a harsher lesson too. Thronnos had not mentioned if the elf would live or not, Alaine found it hard to care when it had been the fools own fault.

Today, was not so bad, today he had his head tilted to cautiously walk Oake as the little buck scrambled along his spread wing and tried to help coat him in the salve. The healers had insisted that it be used every day, not because it would heal him, but because it would take away some of the ache that had become so much a part of his life. It was applied each morning and evening, allowing him some relief, but in exchange for allowing them near him. He had been grateful when Amber suggested that they teach Oake how to use it as well in the hopes that he would be able to apply it himself as he grew larger. Today was certainly showing that the fawn was willing to learn, albeit, in a distracted manner.

"Do not eat it." Alaine admonished and spread his wing lower, flinching at the way his tendons ached. "It is not good to eat."

"H'I like it!" Oake looked up with his muzzle smeared a bit in the salve so that Alaine crinkled his nose back a touch.

He'd licked the salve a few times, it tasted dreadful, and burned his tongue, but the little fawn went back to trying to smear the stuff along his wing arm while he tolerated the aid of an elf on his other wing. It was especially to be still as he kept sliding his gaze towards the highest points of the wall where the dark Thronnos was padding along a narrow ledge. He was decked out in every bit of armor that his rider owned, his scaled standing out and glittering in the light as he bugled warnings and commands to a few drakes that had been roused from the breeding grounds. They were all drakes just growing into their bodies, still not large enough to be considered full adults, but no longer fledglings that could barely take to wing. Their attention was fixed on the older drake, almost vibrating with eagerness as they were given their commands. They were too far away, but he knew the gist of what they were being told.

This evening he would set out on land towards the coast, escorted by several of the drakes to a point that had been picked out by the Riders. The drakes that went with him would all be younger and, more importantly, Riderless. They were being sent with him and would escort him not just to the ocean, but into it. Alaine's breast swelled with pride as he watched the youngsters pressed in against one another, their eyes bright even from a distance as their gaze often slipped towards his own. It was something that he had demanded out of the old drake when he'd agreed to all of this. He couldn't take Oake with him, it was impossible, the little one couldn't travel and the ocean would just as soon swallow him up if he tried to cling to Alaine's back as he swam. If he wished to attack the Isle, he had to place the little ones care in Amber's talons, something that went beyond a simple measure of trust. It had nearly shattered him at realizing the dangers it left Oake open too. And the Riderless drakes would be his best hope at having hostages of his own in uncontrolled dragons.

Thronnos had promised that the fawn would be given a single tutor, an older woman that would take the time to teach him language, history, reading, mathematics, all the things that were important for a two legged to learn. Oake was growing rapidly, far more rapidly than the pitiful infants that he had seen of the elves, he was already strong on his legs and speaking well, but that didn't mean he could take care of himself. The drake had even pledged to assigned a drake to guard Oake, but that had brought Alaine's hackles up. He didn't trust these dragons, he refused to allow the care to such a small fragile creature be in their rough claws. For all he knew, they would try to snatch the fawn up to hold as hostage against him so when he had returned they would have control over him.

He did trust Amber, the dragoness had spent the last two weeks growing steadily plumper. Her trim body no longer light and fleet, but her belly scales had grown tighter revealing a growing clutch. His clutch. The thought made his chest swell open wider and he turned his head, startling the elf that had been trying to work the salve along his wing feathers, and touched her neck with his nose. He had no judge as to when she would lay, but he had no doubt she would boast a fine clutch, and when she did, he refused to allow her to do so in this place. He would take her to an Isle that rightly belonged to their kind, and his eggs would be born free as he had been, and they would grow free.

"I will miss you." Alaine folded his slickened wing slowly, shooting a glare at the departing elf. Amber rested her chin upon her forelegs, her eyes were nearly all the way closed, but they spread open at the touch of his muzzle against her.

"You will be back soon enough, and it will give me a chance to work on your goat's manners." Amber trilled the last words with affection and amusement. "He's eating that salve again."

"Will you not leave this place?" Alaine gave his wing a bump that sent the little one yelping and tumbling down his wing sail. "This place cannot be so large that everywhere is spoken for and it would be safer for both of you elsewhere."

"We are safe here, Alaine." Amber reached out and touched his muzzle with her own, a sweet caress of that soft hide that made him rumble despite himself. "I will guard him as if he were my own egg, no one will dare harm him. No drake would fight a female, they protect us."

"Unless their Riders come in the night." He growled softly, lifting his head to focus on the small form perched on Thronnos' back.

"I promise, by the clutch I carry, Oake will be safe." Amber moved and gently rested her paw over his neck, her eyes sliding over his back to look at the dusty fawn that was trying to pull out pawfuls of the salve to work against his scales. "No drake is as fast as a dragoness on the wing, and I pledge to you, if there is the least threat, I will carry him away with me. Will that not comfort you?"

"I suppose it must." Alaine turned his head from her and carefully worked his lips around Oake so he could pluck the youngster up and dropped him down between them. "I will return to you, both of you."

Alaine leaned forward and brushed his muzzle along her neck, breathing in the warm sweet scent of her with a slight tremor. He would return to them both, and return Amber to the place of their birth, their homeland, where Oake would be raised amidst his own clutch proud and strong. The vision dazzled him, almost stilling worries, fears and doubts that nagged at him.

"I will return.." He nearly whispered the words, lowering his head to touch Oake's sticky furred forearm.

~ ~ * ~ ~

"Meera! Look to the last group!" Rouro barked the words from the bow of the small ship that sliced across the waves, the otter balanced on his thick tail while glaring at the largest vessel behind them.

"Chaos..." Rowan moved a hand up and smoothed her hair back along her horns, her nostrils flaring a little at the taste of sea air. "Look at them, they're going to start tearing each other apart here in a moment."

Their army had arrived on shore weeks ago, and they had done so in droves, but it was the satyrs that had arrived in force. Mainly bucks had shown up eager for a fight, but a few virgin females and older does that were long past breeding age had come out despite going against their culture. It would have been bad enough if it had just been young bucks eager to prove themselves in war, but the addition of the few virgin females had turned things into a near bloodbath as the males competed. The dryads were there, but not many, just the heartier ones that had willingly agreed to leave their land behind for the greater good. The humans were the second largest group, but it was a motley assemblage that had been divided up thinly to attend to the small ships and vessels. Unfortunately putting too many satyr bucks on the ships. She had, thankfully, convinced the females to attend Rouro's ship to keep them from becoming violently fought over.

They had been able to separate them at least a bit, mostly because they weren't coming at the island in any one direction as a group. They were sectioned off and all were given maps on how they should approach to ensure that at least more than one boarding party would succeed. Their own party boasted one large ship, but a merchant ship and two smaller fishing vessels. To any eyes overhead they would look normal enough, hopefully, but the closer they got to the Spit, the tenser she became as dragons were often seen sweeping overhead. None of them had done more than circle once or twice before going on, but it was enough to set her on edge as each time a pair of wings became visible they were forced to hide and the humans moved to take control of the boats.

"We should have had more dryads." Rouro sighed and shook his head as Meera led another otter into the midst of the young bucks trying to fight.

"I know... But we'll land soon." Rowan turned her head towards the distant Isle, a shiver trailing down her spine. "The bucks will be ready to fight when we land."

"Heartwood is going to get together with that dryad fellow, Leeds, and they're supposed to keep things calm. We will need to scale the cliffs without any fuss."

"We will be good there at least." Rowan dropped down to her knees and moved her hands to lean over the railing of the small ship, her eyes lingering on the jagged rocks. "The bucks will be better, we can keep them busy for now."

"Any sign of trouble from them?" The otter tilted his head towards the gathering of female satyrs tucked near the center of the boat.

"No, not yet." The doe drew in a testing breath. "It's not the season, but nothing about this trip has been normal, so we can only hope for the best."

Rowan flattened her ears, she sympathized with their need to come, many of them had lost siblings or nieces or grandchildren to the Riders, but it was still problematic. The older does, the ones past bearing age, would be invaluable due to their knowledge, but the younger ones were the problem. If one of them came into season, the bucks would stop what they were doing and try to court her. It would be a disaster, but they wouldn't listen or be deterred. The only way for her to manage it was to make a single group of the does and attempt to pair them up with dryads instead of other satyrs. If it weren't for the fact they were so light handed she would have found a way to refuse all of them, but she couldn't. Not nearly enough had joined their fight to assure success.

"Alright, bring the vessel 'round to the Miraposa!" Rouro straightened up and barked out to the human that was guiding their ship. "Signal the Persefon, we need to get her in close as well."

"Are we going to start transferring?" Rowan tensed up slightly. "Are we that close?"

"Close enough, we're going into the water, it'll be less bodies crowding the ships." The captain gave her a sharp toothed grin. "The chosen captains know how to guide us in, and once you're close enough, we'll swim you all in instead of risking the ships."

"Swim us in?" Rowan felt a flash of fear at those words, glancing at the choppy ocean with a rough swallow. "Are you sure we can't land?"

"It won't be that far," The otter patted her hand lightly with one warm paw. "I'll take you in myself, you can't drown in the water with an otter!"

"So you say.." Rowan licked her lips nervously and kept her attention fixed on the distant shore. How close would they come in before they had to make a swim for it? She didn't want to think about how cold or deep the water was, she only had to keep her mind fixed on their goal. Oake.

~ ~ * ~ ~

Alaine was alone with dragons, drakes, youngsters that barely came up to his shoulders and he reveled in it. There were no elves here, no Riders clinging to their backs or lurking in the shadows, only dragons that moved through the swamps. His wings were no longer aching, but that was in part to the leather that had been wound around them and flattened them tight to his back. It was constraining, but he had to admit that they were bound tightly enough that his movements didn't jostle them to give him constant shocks of pain. It wouldn't remain there forever, once they reached the shore he would use his teeth to rip away the leather so he could swim properly, but for now it was comfortable enough that he almost enjoyed the day.

Azure, Crimson and Sapphire were the drakes that had been assigned to him, the names more telling of their colors than any personality or caring sire that had named them. They were all young and full of energy and excitement at the prospect of a fight, and nearly as alike as brothers, though he had been assured they were from different clutches. Crimson bore a set of scales that were nearly a match for his own, except, the scales were utterly perfect. They overlapped each other, hard and glittering, no marred scars or places where the scales grew naturally dark from years of wearing a muzzle or harness. Azure and Sapphire were almost identical, save that Azure's color was darker by a few shades, it would be impossible to tell them apart casually or in even dim light. Which was the point of their matching colors, or so he had been told.

"If you're going to take them, I want to keep them off their game. Alike colors will make it hard for them to get an accurate count when they aren't sure if there are two blue and one red or two red and two blue, or a red and a blue." Thronnos had rumbled in explanation when asked. "Any advantage is a good one."

They are my hostages...._Alaine reminded himself as he watched Azure leaping up with great bounds before taking to the air. _That is why they are coming with me.

He would have preferred taking another dragon's Rider, but that was apparently unthinkable, as it was, these young drakes were valuable enough that they would hesitate before losing them to the wild. They had no clue that was why he had pressed for an escort, which was how he wanted it to remain. As it was, they thought it was a grand adventure, leaping and joking with one another, showing off as young drakes were wont to do. He found it almost infectious as he snorted at the feel of Crimson crashing in against his haunches and made him stumble slightly. He swung his tail out and clubbed firmly against the youngster's side in rebuke.

"Azure! How close are we?" He bugled up to the youngster kiting above him while the other two seemed content to remain at his side.

"Not far, we could make it by tonight at this pace I bet." The blue drake swept down showily and sent wind hammering down around him.

"Good, we'll press on." Alaine curled his tail tip. "We were given extra time to account for delays to make it across the channel, but we had best not use them so early."

"I'm not sure I can swim so far." Crimson tilted his head towards Alaine nervously. "I practiced swimming in the lake, but it's not like flying."

"And why should it be? The air is lighter than water is and you will have to be strong. Once we hit the ocean you will need to swim unless we find a place for you to clamber out of the water at." Alaine picked up his pace to a trot, watching as Sapphire scrambled to keep up. "But you'll also float in water, unlike the sky where you'd just fall if you were to stop flying."

"And you'll teach us to fight?" Sapphire's voice was sharp and eager. "I listened to Hawkstoop, he said that you were magnificent! The ships thought you were more deadly than they were!"

"I can teach you to fight well enough, perhaps we will encounter a Slokaken ship and I will show you how to bring it down." Alaine conceded and gave himself a bit of a shake as Azure swept over them again before attempting a showy landing in front of them.

"I'd like that.." Sapphire rumbled thoughtfully. "I could teach my Rider to swim as well, and we could attack from above and below." The last was said with a fierce snarl of anticipation.

"Why have a rider at all?" Alaine snorted in response. "I have no rider and I'm not suffering for the lack in the least bit. If I had one, they would drown when I go beneath the waves, hardly a tempting idea for them."

"B-because we're dragons and we're going to be warriors." Crimson tilted his head with what looked like disbelief. "How else are we going to bring down the Slokaken? They help keep us safe from attacks from below and we give them an aerial advantage that benefits both our races."

Alaine sighed, but bit his tongue to continue on. He had already tried to broach this subject several times, but they seemed to be entirely baffled at his strange beliefs and had brushed them off with some amount of tolerance as his being foreign raised. Their entire lives seemed centered around the idea of battle, glorious battle. They had confessed several times to sneaking out of the breeding grounds when it was late in the evening and they had a chance to watch the Riders practice. Their awe of the maneuvers were palpable, and certainly they seemed eager to have their own Rider, save they were still to young to feel the draw of brooding over a pregnant female. Crimson had been shown to an elf shortly before he had been tapped for this mission, but he hadn't felt any draw or need to be possessive or protective.

In his own words, the idea of sitting in a pit with nothing to do but watch an elf grow fatter had been absolutely dull to him. When they returned they would likely try again, waiting until he showed some sort of draw to someone, and then he would be just another pet. They would all be pets, pampered and bathed and bejeweled, with nothing of the fierce personalities or depth that they should have possessed. That was what he had noticed watching them, they showed all the depth of an adult drake that was Ridden, just with a touch more playfulness and youth to them. It seemed as if the moment a dragon chose a Rider he stopped growing, his personality halted and became stilted. Certainly none of the drakes he had met aside from Thronnos had been terribly clever or showed any leadership skills.

By contrast, the females were obviously well grown and interesting. They were intelligent, albeit they might tend towards a more sedentary lifestyle considering the way they were kept, but they weren't stuck with an undefined personality. The more he listened to them chatter of their future, the more he wondered if this was a side effect of bonding so strongly to a creature outside of their own species, or if it was simply how they were raised. They were stagnated at an age where their questions were childish seeming, their mentality locked and never seeking for further answers. Thronnos and Alaine both thought of higher things, the war, religion, concepts that were vague and required a sharp mind to plan for battle or survival. They had distinct personalities, habits and quirks that made them unique, the drakes lacked this.

They are crippled.... _ The thought sent a wave of disgust through him as Crimson went aloft and called out their bearings towards the shore. _These three will never be what they were born to be, they will stagnate at this age, this mentality, all that potential withering away...

Alaine picked up his pace and held his tail higher up along his haunches as he set his sights on the horizon. If he had any say in the matter he wouldn't see them wasted. They hadn't picked a Rider yet, and there was no reason they should be forced too. They were young, and still able to think for themselves, and he would give them something to think of if he had any say in the matter.

"I can always speed us along with a story," Alaine rumbled his offer as Crimson came back down with his chest puffing with his short effort. "It might pass the time more quickly."

"Yes! You can tell us of your battles!" Azure almost crashed against his side with his eagerness, but Alaine gave his head a short shake.

"No, you should have a tale of your heritage. I will tell you what I was told.." Alaine drew in a breath and mulled over the choices. "In the darkness of the first breath, a dragon as blue as the oceans spread her wings and opened an eye so gold that it put all the black to shame. With Aratha's breath, the darkness retreated in the first day of the world....."

~ ~ * ~ ~

"H'UP!" Heartwood's broad hand pushed against Rowan's haunches helping her to scramble up along cliff while the human that was harnessed and attached to the rope behind her made a fearful noise.

Two satyrs to each human or dryad, one to wear the harness to keep the less nimble creatures safe and one to act as a spotter. Rowan folded her ears back to her head and braced her cloven hooves in the rocks before heaving upwards again, pulling the rope taut before the human could scramble up behind her. Her arms were shaking, but she was secure as Heartwood scrambled up beside her, his eyes watching for any signs that she might weaken. She gave him a faint smile before hauling herself up, digging her hooves against the rock as she set her eyes on the grass above here where the cliff gave way to level ground. A few had already gotten up that high and had disappeared into the long grasses, likely hiding to make sure that no one paid attention to them.

It took forever, her entire body screaming protest, and the last few feet aided by Heartwood grasping her arm and hauling her up, but eventually she made it. The human that had been tethered to her scrambled up after her panting and sweaty, his face pale looking, but he at least took her command to lay low seriously. The rest were trailing up, but she didn't have time to look after them, she kicked and shifted the grass beneath her, lifting it upwards and trying not to crush more to show that they had arrived on the Spit this way. Heartwood was more adept, his head bowed and his horns working through the worst.

"There are dragons here, we're watching them..." One of the dryads slipped up to her, his eyes wary looking. "They're heading due east, but they are passing close enough that we are going to halt the climbers soon."

"They aren't passed yet?" Rowan shifted into the thicker grasses and carefully crouched so that she could lift her head just above the foliage.

The dryads blended seamlessly, their colors helping them to remain hidden, while she could only lift her upper head so that she could see the movement in the distance. Her eyes instantly went up to the sky, looking for wings against the blue background, but movement drew her eyes down. They weren't far away, she could make out their bodies plainly and the details of their heads as three of the smaller drakes were centering their attention on the larger one. They walked steadily, but she barely paid attention to the smaller details, her eyes were locked on the drake that was obviously speaking. His head tilted to one side as he addressed them and his tail curled up at the tip in high good humor. The distance couldn't hide the fact that his brilliant red scales were scarred and darkened from an old harness.

The distance couldn't hide the way his wings were kept clapped to his sides instead of moving in gestures as he spoke. Alaine had grown taller, his chest had filled out, but Rowan's heart gave a painful lurch at the easy way he conversed with the dragons at his sides. He seemed at home with them, not as if he were being held prisoner and escorted. He wasn't hiding or infiltrating them, he was with them. Tears blurred Rowan's eyes as she dropped back into the log grasses and tried to choke back a sob of anger and despair. He had joined them, after all that he had said, after all he had done, Alaine had joined the elves.