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Celsko lay in the water, head barely breaking the surface, just enough to allow her nostrils to reach the air. She had wedged herself between two boulders, wings spread like great water lilies, and had fallen asleep. On the opposite side of the boulders, so close to the waterfall that its spray speckled my scales, I remained vigilant. I had to formulate a plan, I just had to. We could not stay in this... this hell. Escape was my only fucking option.

A fish darted between my hind legs, and without even thinking I pinned it beneath my forepaw. The creature squirmed, and I clenched my claws, feeling bones crack and splinter.

Suddenly I felt vicious, senseless words in my throat.

"I'm your god. You hear me, you damn fish? I'm your god." I snarled down at the growing cloud of bright-red blood, feeling a sadistic wave of pleasure course through my veins. "I'm your god. I'll kill you whenever I fucking feel like it because I'm your fucking god."

Using my claws to skewer it, I brought the fish up to my face and glared at it. Its tail gave one final, defiant twitch, and fell limp. Crushed, like the eggs within Eve, defiled, like the innocence of Celsko, bloodied and torn, like the neck of a storyteller. The hot blood smelled utterly intoxicating, and I had to force myself to resist the urge to devour the delectable meal right then and there.

"Celsko," I said in a low voice, nuzzling her snout affectionately. "Celsko, I have something f-for you."

She stirred from her sleep, then opened one eye and gave a raspy chirp.

"Here," I whispered. "you must be hungry." I placed the fish in the water between us, then bumped it with my snout and let it drift slowly towards her. She eyed it for a moment, then snapped it up and swallowed in a fraction of a second.

"How are you feeling?" I asked once she was done.

"H-hurts to breath." she rasped breathlessly.

I clenched my eyes, feeling tears begin to well up. I sucked in a sharp breath, then whispered in a pained voice, "Celsko, I-I need you to tell me who did this and what they did to you. I need to know... need to know how hurt you are... need to know how I can help."

She looked at me, then stood slowly and limped out of the stream. Thousands of tiny water droplets glimmered in the sunlight as she lay down on the thick carpet of moss and pine nettles. I followed, shaking the water off my scales, then sat.

"Nimbus... lay here with me... please." Her voice cracked, making please sound jagged and broken. It was not a question, rather a desperate cry.

My inhibitions lost and dead, I complied, curling around her and lifting my wing, forming a canopy of sorts over the two of us. She let her head and neck rest against mine, and me unto her. Soft sobs began to rise from the broken creature.

"H-he said that I was hiding something, said that I-I was conspiring against the colony." she whimpered into my neck. "I tried to tell him... tried to tell him that I kn-knew nothing, that I was hiding nothing..."

"What was it that he thought you were hiding?" I murmured, rubbing the underside of my jaw across the top of her head in a futile attempt to comfort her. I could feel every bump and ridge that ran throughout her scales press into the underside my tongue.

"H-he thought...agh!" Celsko pushed her face into my jaw and neck, wailing, then coughing uncontrollably. Saliva and blood speckled my paw and neck. "He thought tha-that I was carrying your egg. He said that-- that it had to be dealt with, because you-you're a purebred. I tried to tell him, Nimbus, I-I tried... He-he wouldn't listen. He hit me, Nimbus, hit me in the face and called me a liar. I turned to run, and he grabbed my tail and threw me on my back..." Her voice was so low that it seemed nary more than a breath. "I bit his leg, and that's when he cut me. He told me that he would kill me if I fought..." she paused, her sobbing near uncontrollable. "He-he said that he was going to make it so that no drake would ever want to be my mate... and he did!" She shrieked the last words, making me jump with surprise. Her wails now were beyond her own control, they bled from her leaving the husk of my friend breathless in their wake.

"Shh... it's okay..." I soothed, squeezing her against me with my wing and rubbing my cheek against hers. Her whole body trembled. "Everything will be okay, Cel... We'll get the cut fixed and we'll escape. No one will ever hurt you again, I promise, Celsko, I promise..."

She turned towards me and our eyes met, our snouts a mere inch from one another. "You-you mean leave the valley?" she breathed.

"Yes, yes, leave this place. We'll go north and find our own valley where they'll never-ever find us."

"If they catch us--?"

"I won't let them." I huffed sternly. "I'll kill them, Celsko. I'll kill them all, I swear to Sephive, I'll kill them..."

Celsko looked away.

"The-the valley will have a river and a lake with a waterfall." I whispered, my eyes half closing as I coiled my tail around hers. "The sun will warm your scales, and the summer rains will feed the brooks. The mountains will stand like the crown of Sephive himself, a great white jewel in the center..." I trailed off, realizing that her breathing had slowed and her eyes had closed.

There was a silence.

Release.

"You do know what they would do to you if you were to get caught?" a cold voice suddenly growled from behind me.

In an instant I was on my feet. Whipping around, I grabbed the drake and threw him to the ground, pinning him beneath me before he had a chance to react. My teeth bared, I gave a feral snarl at the creature. He was a coppery-orange mountain drake with a dark red underbelly. Veexer.

"Do you, Nimbus?" he asked again, his voice high-pitched, for my paws were pressed firmly against his neck. "He'll let the Trilset have her and make you watch... Maybe he'll even have you, I've heard rumours that he has a taste for both females and males. Then he'll torture and kill the both of you-- oh, what fun that shall be!"

"Shut up!" I hissed, my claws digging into his neck. "I'll tear your throat out, I'll fucking tear your throat out!"

"Yes, and what will that accomplish?" the wretched Veexer snarled back. "I mean you no harm."

I glared at him for a moment, the tantalizing thoughts of feeling his blood spray against me flooding my senses. I then sighed and stepped back. The drake rolled over, got to his feet, and sat back on his haunches, preening his wings a bit as he did so. Casually, he raised a paw and massaged the portion of his neck that I had nearly torn open.

"You heard nothing." I growled venomously, narrowing my eyes as I watched him tend to himself.

"No, I heard everything, Nimbus." the drake shot back calmly.

I gave a low growl and said nothing.

"And I want to come with you."

I flinched, my growl faltering.

"Roaz carries a clutch," he whispered, lowering his head, all calmness gone from his voice. "They're killing them-- the halfbreed eggs. All of them."

"Like they did with Eve?" I murmured.

"Some of them, yes..." said he, his voice wavering. "Others they just give to the Trilset... I saw it, I saw all of it. They dragged Renelv and her mate out of their den..." He shook his head slowly. "By the time the fourth drake got to her... her clutch lay on the ground. When they were crushed I could see them... I could see the whelps. Have you any idea what a whelp looks like when it is torn from its egg? They're nary any larger than my toe..."

I turned away, letting my eyes rest on Celsko, who lay motionless in her slumber. I wanted-- needed -- to save her from this hell. But others, those who tormented me so? Those ugly hypocrites and bullies and scum, do they deserve such sanctity? Do I?

"You may come." I said after a silence. "You, and any you can gather that are willing to fight if worse comes to worse."

The drake nodded solemnly. "How do you propose we escape the valley?"

I said nothing for a moment, then muttered curtly, "Fly over the ridge then disappear into the forest beyond..."

"They'd catch us before we got ten paces beyond the ridge." he growled. "There are sentries all along the ridge... Forest drakes, mostly. You know how well they can see, especially in the blackness. Anyway," he added, gesturing towards Celsko with his tail. "with how she is now, I doubt she'd be able to even fly that far."

His words left me feeling as if there was a heavy stone in my stomach.

"You will not speak of her like that." I snarled.

"You said you were going to heal her wound. Tell me, Nimbus, how do you plan to do that?"

I gave the drake a sideways look, debating whether or not I should tell him of the humans. In the end, I just sighed. Nothing worse could come of his knowing.

"There is a human," I murmured, glancing about for fear that watchful eyes and attentive ears could be lurking. "Celsko and I met him not five days ago... He-he could fix her..."

The drake narrowed his eyes. "What makes you think those savages could save her? They are nothing but fucking animals! They'll only prolong her pain, Nimbus."

"No! Not this one! I can take you to him, I can." I retorted. "He has a liquid that can stop wounds from festering-- I saw him heal his own wounds with my very eyes!"

"And?" Veexer snarled. "Whatever it is, is a vile, human potion. It will probably melt her scales and poison her."

"No, no he won't! I-I'll force him to save her!" My voice cracked as composure began to fall from me.

The gurgling of the stream was all that there was to be heard for a time.

He looked at me with cold eyes, then said in a matter-of-fact tone, "You are mates, aren't you?"

"No." I murmured.

"Hmm, pity." the drake rumbled, sounding amused. "Tell me, Nimbus, is it because the purity of your blood or the fact that watching your friend and his mate fuck with your tail wrapped around your cock is more... enjoyable?"

I gawked, then shook my head vigorously, feeling a look of shock and hot embarrassment cross my face.

Veexer laughed. "Yes, stumbling across us like that is one thing, but hiding there to enjoy the show... well, that's just pathetic." He examined my shock with enjoyment in his eyes. "Don't think I didn't see you there the entire time. When you spoke of it yesterday I wanted to scream and call you a liar, but truth be told, Nimbus, there is nothing more amusing to me than to see a lust-filled prick like yourself get oh-so jealous and horny over me taking a female." He snickered. "But I believe there are much more... important matters at hand."

"You said you wanted to escape..." I growled glumly, restricting the urge to tear at him with tooth and claw. "As much pleasure as it brought me watching you and your whore mate fuck, I think it would be all the more pleasurable feeling your skull cave in beneath my paws. You want to fucking escape? You want to see your whelps hatch and not be crushed whilst still in their mothers belly? You pester and ridicule... I needn't the likes of you. Find your own fucking way out."

Just then, from the bushes there came a shrill cry. "Veexer!"

A blue-and-orange dragoness came bounding towards us. She leapt and opened her wings, glided for a ways, then crashed into Veexer with such force that it knocked him onto his back. The two lay in the pine needles, Veexer looking utterly stunned while she rubbed her head against his.

"I woke up and you were gone!" she wailed. "I was afraid! I thought- I thought you said you wouldn't go anywhere!"

"Roaz, Roaz..." Veexer comforted, having seemingly forgot I existed, "I was merely thirsty and went to the stream."

The two nuzzled each other, and I positioned myself between them and the still-sleeping Celsko, opening my wings some in order to better conceal her. I studied them, watching their movements and hearing their words with interest. Roaz brought her paws to his neck and jaw and kissed him on his forehead. He gave a faux struggle to throw her off, and the two laughed as if there was not a care in the world.

And I saw her laying unconscious on the ground, beaten and raped, the crushed remains of her eggs scattered about. Next to her would lie the decapitated corpse of Veexer and the Trilset drake whom he had killed trying to protect his love. Around them would stand members of the Trilset, and possibly even The Provider himself. Price one must pay for being impure, the wage one must claim.

She kissed him again, then looked at me and blushed beneath her scales.

"Nimbus!" she exclaimed. "I haven't seen you since that time two summers ago when Celsko moved from her parents' cave to her own. Remember? You and I helped her build her nest." Roaz grinned, the light refracting off her teeth.

Abruptly, Veexer stood. "We best be going, my sweet. Nimbus is not one to converse with." he growled angrily.

I looked at him, at her, then at the ground.

"Roaz... come here." I murmured, keeping my head down but letting my eyes meet hers. She hesitated, then walked casually over to me. Veexer watched, and I could see the anxiety creeping across his features. It was only when she stood a pace from me did I realize how much smaller she was then me, as if she was nothing more than a whelp herself. Even though I knew she had seen nearly as many winters as I had, it still seemed to me as if I was looking into the eyes of a hatchling.

"Yes, what is it, Nimbus?" she asked, beaming.

I sighed, then stepped aside, watching as the horror pervaded the innocent Roaz. She charged past me, yowling. Gazing over my shoulder, I saw her cradling Celsko's head in her paws. I then turned back to Veexer, who was slowly walking across the clearing, his eyes entranced upon his mate and her friend.

"Gather up those you can trust," I called to him in a low tone, "We'll leave the night after tonight."

I held my face to the sun, and said quietly, neither to Veexer nor myself, "He was right. Quartzite was right, everything he fucking said was right."