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Chapter Eleven - Society

The shadow exploded, and the crowd erupted in an utter orgy of shouts. Some cried for death unto our leader, for others, praise was but the battle cry. In the middle of it all stood I, an inept husk of a being, unable to tear my eyes away. It was only when the Trilset charged forth, claws sharp and teeth bore, did I snap out of the trance that was laid upon me. Yes, the Trilslet, the wicked claws of the malign, performed with such speed, tearing and snapping at any who fought back, be they female or whelp, elder or cripple. The final solution it was! For one to sit aghast as we were beaten into submission. Such a grand scheme of oppression could only be conceived by the great Sephive himself, he who had wanted nothing more than freedom!

Two drakes, an older forest-breed and a brown Trilset, reared up and slashed at each other with their forepaws not ten paces from where I stood. The Trilset, though larger, lacked the combat skills the older drake possessed, and so was completely oblivious to the fact that his opponent had gotten ahold of his wingbase until it was too late. Before the Trilset had time to react, the older drake twisted and I heard the sickening pop of the joint being torn out of place. There was a shriek of pain and the drake fell back towards me as his opponent smashed into the wounded creature.

Yet he did not land on top of me.

No, between him and I there was a boulder, a boulder that was possibly shoulder height. A boulder that a very scared little whelp lay atop. It was this boulder that protected the coward Nimbus from the fighting creatures, who closed his eyes and listened to the shrill shriek of a whelp and the crunching of bones.

Have I not told you that mountain drakes have the sharpest of ears?

---

In the end, the old drake was pried off the Trilset by two others. Beneath him, the Trilset drake was beaten and bloodied, yet still looked enraged. Enraged. Enraged because he had lost a fight. Yes, lost a fight to an old bastard who ought to learn his place in society. Just like that crumpled bloody, bloody mess that lay on the cold stone. Should the little creature of learnt it's place in society? Should the eggs within Eve have known their place? I sure as hell know mine.

I remained in a low, defensive position even after the fighting had ceased to be. My mind could not form thoughts, rather, I felt only raw, beastial instincts. No matter how loud my mind screamed at me to run back to my cave, my body could do nothing. My eyes could not be torn from the broken form, my paws, unmoving from the earth on which I stood, as if cemented there though this- this burn and toil that masquerades as my pathetic existence. In the whelp's blood I saw my own reflection looking back, as if it wanted to kill me. The blood, as red as Kiven's eyes, as beautiful as a summer evening, as enraging as those who torment me. Oh, you tyrants, you savages, you half-breeds, come! Come and gaze upon the answer to your very existence! This cruel world in which we mill about in squalor and bother ourselves over our petty trifles shall prevail upon this day, just as our great Sephive prevailed against Cortez the wicked. The voice has come, the answer is clear, and I, he who is without meaning, I against I, shall not prevail. For the good of the colony! For the leader who kills his own, just as I slash at myself and curse the ones who come near. He and I, one in the same! He who could do no wrong! He who ought to be destroyed!

Madness is a blessing, existence: a curse. A river flowed within my mind, a river of lies and hypocrisy and hatred and pain. At first it felt cold, deathly cold. But it began to warm, to boil and churn. The river was not one of water, but one of copper blood. And I drank from it, and I gorged on it. I bathed in it, and felt pleasure in it's warmth. The warmth, so inviting, encapsulated me, and I no longer swam. I simply sank lower and let the beautiful blood of insanity flow over my head as I let myself drown. Only, I did not drown in it, I was merely the weight that pushed the head of Nimbus beneath the surface, where he struggled for a time, but eventually went limp. As my enemy lay dead beneath me, reason fell like autumn leaves all around, swirling in the wind that blows this useless life along. Yes friends, madness is not something to fear, for I believe that this madness is the ultimate liberation from this hell. As it invaded my broken mind and flowed down my throat, I felt more than than the imprisoned shell I had always been, I was alive and I was dead all at the same time. Sephive no longer watches over us, he merely looks down upon a swarm of parasites. We are nothing to him, nothing more than animals and savages scurrying about. Sephive rewards he who loves him most with madness, loneliness, and abandonment. And Sephive? Sephive is no more than the claws used to slash at us, the tail used to crush Eve's eggs. Sephive is everything and he is nothing.

The reprieve came, and I had found my purpose. Nimbus the Mundane had found purpose.

After a time, I realized that there was a drake who stood in front of me. I blinked, and the drake seemed suddenly aware that I acknowledged his presence.

"The Provider wishes to see you." He spoke the words with a punctuated, inanimate tone.

"Wh-what?" I managed.

"The Provider wishes to see you." He said again, this time a with a slight growl of annoyance. "You oughtn't keep him waiting."

I stared at him blankly for a moment, then shook my head vigorously.

"I don't want to!" I hissed, returning my gaze to the whelp.

The drake watched me for a moment, then sharply cuffed me with the back of his paw. The force of it made my teeth click and a dull throb to thunder against my cheek.

"Don't you dare address a Trilset like that, you mangy-scaled freak!"

A low growl began to vibrate in the back of my throat, but I did not lash out. I simply remained hunkered low to the ground, hoping the spiteful creature would leave me be.

But it was not so.

Again came a sharp cuff, and another, and another. Three sharp blows, as if in tempo, landed upon my jaw. Like a whelp that had disobeyed a mother who would not forgive. A mother who told the little creature she beat upon that she loved him.

"Are you going to listen to me now?!" The drake snarled.

I looked at him, then slowly got to my feet, hot blood starting to ooze from a fresh gash. The next few minutes were but a hazy blur. No longer was I controlling where I went, rather, my paws simply, mechanically, followed the drake. Thoughts were absent, but at the same time, consuming me. Why had The Provider called upon me? Was I to be executed for being impure? The thought of death did not scare me in the least. It was a profound revelation, as I may well be walking unto my own execution, I shall fear no evils, for death shall bring liberation unto me.

---

Never before had I seen The Provider's lair, being that none were allowed near. The cave sat high on the ridgeline, where two great, lichen-covered boulders leaned against each other, forming a large cavity.The trees at this altitude were small, stunted, and consisted entirely of spruce. To my right, I could hear the churning of water, a flume, perhaps.

What a beautiful, beautiful view.

Suddenly, I felt a sharp lash against my side. The Trilset drake-- who I seemed to think went by the name Agnarr --stood sending a threatening glare my way, then cocked his head towards the entrance of the cave.

I gulped, thinking for a moment of trying to escape, then crept forward. I shall fear no pain.

It took my eyes a moment to adjust to the dimness. The inside of the cave was even larger than I had imagined, so large, in fact, that I reckoned that I could stretch my wings with ease. The floor of the chamber was not one of stone, but of a thick coat of moss that felt pleasurable under my paws. Against the walls sat a great number of objects that I had not the words to describe. There hung a large sheet of what looked like the strange materials that Louis Bekker wore, except this was rectangular and was the most beautiful shades of red and gold, with an insignia in the center of black and white. Gold, silver, and other metal objects sat neatly arranged throughout the cave. A hoard, the one thing that every dragon desires. Hoards had been banned within the colony, yet here sat one, in the abode of the very drake who had created the law.

And that's when I saw it.

In the back corner of the cave, the dark form of a dragon sat watching me. Inhaling sharply, I took a quick step back, near ready to bolt from the cave.

"You've no need to be afraid." A feminine voice said in a low, yet comforting tone.

Out of the darkness came not the fearsome leader I had expected to find waiting for me, but rather, a smallish, white female, probably no older than I. Everything about her seemed incredibly delicate. Her scales, small and almost flesh-like, looked as if they could be pierced with nary more than thorn. Her horns were thin, and instead of being solid like mine, twisted to form a sort of hilux. Even her wings looked as delicate as a butterfly's.

For a moment reality seemed to be but a dream.

"You're... a snow dragon..." I stammered in awe. It appeared to be impossible, it did. Snow dragons were thought to have been completely killed off, even The Provider had said so. And yet here one was, standing right in front of me.

She sat back on her haunches and curled her tail around herself, looking at me through entirely blue eyes, save for a thin slit of a pupil.

"Yes, I am a snow dragon..." she said slowly, eyes closing.

I sat in awkward silence, before rumbling quietly; "The Provider sent for me, is he here?"

Her eyes snapped open.

"Oh, he went up to the spring to bathe, I think." She said quickly-- fearfully, then, with much more enthusiasm, "Who are you?"

"Nimbus." I said sheepishly after a pause.

"Nimbus... like the clouds..." the snow dragon purred dreamily, "Clouds can be grey, can't they?"

"Yes, storm clouds," I murmured, "but surely you already knew that?" Is this pompous little imp just trying to tease me, I thought, trying to tease and torment me for the crazy fuck that I am?

She looked past me, to the entrance of the cave, where her longing gaze remained.

"Grey can be a rather pretty color..." she warbled softly, flicking her eyes back to me. The creature was utterly strange in every sense of the word. "Is that why your mother named you Nimbus, because you look like the clouds?"

When I remained silent, the little dragon frowned.

"My name's Alkali." she suddenly squeaked, a jubilant look returning to her face.

"Alkali..." I mused, "why are you here?"

Alkali gulped, and I could see her blush beneath her white scales.

Oh.

"I... I'm sorry, your highness." I stammered, lowering my head into a submissive position and taking another step back. "I didn't know..."

"No, no, don't apologize..." she insisted, her voice wavering and shrill, "He's... not my mate."

I looked at her, confused.

She sighed, and pawed absently at the tip of her tail. "The only reason he saved my egg was because he knew I would one day carry his." It seemed as though she was no longer talking to me. There was a pause, and her eyes met mine. "That is why I am here."

There was nothing I could say.

"He'll be back," she murmured, turning back towards her corner, "any minute now, he'll be back."

Alkali lay down and rested her head on her paws, eyes still fixated on me.

"Tell me, Nimbus, what happened out there today?"

I sighed. "I don't think you would want to hear that, your highness."

"I am Alkali, nothing more, nothing less." she corrected meekly.

"I don't think you would want to hear that... Alkali." I amended. Addressing a dragon of such stature by name felt unnatural to me.

The white dragon watched me with a look of sadness in her large, blue eyes.

"Do you know that I've seen twenty-six winters, and haven't set foot outside this cave in the daylight since I was a whelp?" She sighed, then warbled dreamily, "Sometimes at night though, I go and sit outside the entrance. I watch the stars and the moon... some nights it's so bright that I can see the entire valley. And some nights there's even a breeze that comes up the mountain, and I open my wings, and I feel like I'm flying..."

"Then why don't you?" I growled, "why don't you just fly away?"

She said nothing. Instead, the snow dragon raised one wing weakly. Even in the darkness I could see the grossly underdeveloped muscles.

It made me want to vomit.

"All I have here are my books, no one to talk to. I've never even gotten to see the clouds above, or get to hear talk of what goes on in the world outside. You're the first outsider I've spoken to in..." she bit her lip and looked to the ceiling in thought. "...four winters or so."

"Books?" I questioned, struggling to pronounce the strange word.

"Yes, surely you know what they are, don't you?"

I shook my head.

"Oh, they're a human thing. Books are little packets of parchment, and the parchment has words written on it in human letters. And these words-- they tell stories!" Her eyes gleamed with excitement. "I only have a three, but I do love reading them. My favorite is called Letters from Mexico, it was written by an explorer named Hernan Cortes. Yes, he and his men and their ships-- do you know what a ship is? No, probably not, we're not near the ocean. --But Cortes, he came from a faraway land called Spain. And- and he sailed to a place he called Mexico. But in Mexico there were the Mayans, and Cortes, Cortes conquered them!" Akali was nearly bouncing.

"Cortez?" I suddenly chirped, interrupting the bubbly dragon's story. "You mean Cortez the Wicked?"

"Yes, you kno-" she stopped mid-sentence, staring past me.

Slowly I turned around, following her gaze.

Not ten six paces from me sat The Provider, motionless and silent.

It was the first time I had stood so close to the silver drake, the first time that I had ever seen the color of his eyes, an odd shade of violet. It had always seemed to me that he was much larger than I, but as he and I glared at each other, I saw that we were nearly the same size. A thick, gold ring adorn one his horns, and there was another large ring through each of his long ears, all of which scrimshawed with ancient symbols.

"You are the one they call Nimbus, I presume?" He growled tersely after examining me.

I swallowed dryly and nodded.

"And I see you have met my mate. I ask you, Nimbus, how would you feel if I came into your domain and conversed with the carrier of your eggs?"

"I have no mate, sir." I said quietly, looking at the floor. It was so quiet that I could hear was my own heart thundering in my ears, my blood flowing in my veins.

"No mate?" The Provider mocked, "Then how how am I to believe that you were not trying to court mine? Do you not realize that, in the days of old, if a drake found his mate being courted, he would be in the right mind to kill?"

"He was not courting me, Zarr." Alkali said softly, giving the drake a pleading look. "I was just telling hi-"

"I don't give a damn what you were doing!" He snarled at her, a stark contrast to the cool tone his voice had held before.

At once the drake sat back and caught a hold on himself.

"But Nimbus," he said, voice regaining its coldness, "these are not the days of old."

He walked slowly over to where the red and gold fabric hung, regarding the object with a look of bored retrospect.

"No, these are times of society, times of... cooperation. Those in the past times were ignorant, they fought amongst themselves over nothing, like rats. Greed, greed was all they lived for. But in society, in this colony, there is no need for greed."

I opened my mouth, vicious words ready to be cast forth, but suddenly heard a quiet yelp, and saw that Alkali was shaking her head fearfully.

"In this society," The Provider continued, running his paw gently along the fabric, "there must be order to maintain peace. And order cannot function with lying, greedy drakes. In this society, Nimbus, I am the order, and order has eyes everywhere."

As quick and as silent as the wind, the drake turned, leapt, and brought himself so close to me that our snouts nearly touched.

"Now," he hissed, eyes narrowing to slits, "is there anything you would like to tell me, Nimbus? Anything that you are... hiding from me? Liars are the same as traitors, young Nimbus, and I'm sure you know damn well what happens to traitors."

I tried to shrink back, but the drake put a powerful paw on the back of my neck, holding me where I stood.

"Well, do you!" He yelled, shaking me violently.

"N-No, sir!" I nearly sobbed the words.

"You lie! You lie, you fucking scum! All you want to do is stir up trouble, don't you?!"

I yelped in pain as he threw me to the ground, the softness of the moss giving a strange sensation of comfort.

I raised my head, gazing right into the eyes of the snow dragon. Alkali and I stared at each other, then the frail little creature buried her head beneath her paws.

"Heh, look at you." The Provider scoffed with disgust. "And you call yourself a drake! I could probably fuck you right here and have you clutch, you filth. What a disappointment you are, Nimbus. There's not an ounce of fight in you... Makes me almost envious of Cobalt, surely that little halfbreed cunt you call a friend put up more of a fight than your worthless hide!"

Celsko!

My eyes opened wide, my stomach tied in knots, and a deep growl rose up in my throat.

I leapt to my feet and whipped around to face the drake, the growl now so loud that it seemed to make my body vibrate with rage.

"Oh, did that make someone angry?" the drake taunted. "Yes, I'm sure Cobalt had such a fun time with her."

Every fiber of my being told me to rip the wretched creature to shreds, but I forced myself to turn and bound from the cave.

"Yes, run, run to your little friend, Nimbus!" The Provider called in a cheerful voice behind me. "Run to whatever's left!"

Outside the cave, thick sheets of heavy rain poured down, but I cared not. Spreading my wings, I leapt from the mountainside, flying harder than I ever had before. The rain hit me, thundering against my scales so hard that it stung, but I felt no pain. What I felt against me was the blood of Quartzite the Martyr. In my ears I heard not the roar of the wind, but the pained cries of Eve the Innocent. Below me I saw not the valley I called my home, but the crumpled corpse of the whelp unknown.

Landing was not a matter of safety, Roughly, I crashed into a tree and dug my claws in, sliding for a ways before releasing and falling the last fifteen feet. On my foreleg, my cut had re-opened and bled, but my blood was of no issue, merely a petty loss to a worthless drake.

Chest heaving, I ran through the woods. Up ahead, I could see the clearing where Celsko's cave lay. Celsko, who only three days ago I had cursed and hated and told I had never wanted to see again, now the being I valued more than my own flesh, my own life.

Before I had even reached the entrance, I smelled the metallic scent of blood and the bitter musk of male.

I burst into the cave, panting and frothing at the maw. I felt a sharp pain in my foot, and looked down to see the shattered remains of the glass.

"Celsko?" I called into the darkness, voice cracking.

From the back of the cave came a small whimper, barely audible over the rain. It is there that I went, not caring about the shards that tore into my paws.

I saw vomit, and I saw blood, and a whimpering, wheezing heap of green scales that lay pressed against the wall. Along her sides were deep claw marks, and an eye was swollen shut.

Blood trickled down the inside of her hind leg, and I felt the need to wretch.

"Celsko!" I shrieked the name, hearing it slowly become a high-pitched, pained cry.

I lay down beside her and draped a wing over her shaking form. Instantly I felt her head pressed to the underside of my jaw, and the warmth of her body against mine. Soothing, non-sensical words left my lips as I held my bloodied friend close.

She began to sob, and not being able to hold my composure any longer, as did I. Together we lay, and through my broken mind came a single thought and promise, commanding every fiber of my being.

No more harm would come to her.