Blood of Dragons

[Lion]

Storm clouds brewed overhead.  While rain was still many hours off, it was dangerous to ride the clouds with such a threat ahead of them.  Garaduin's lean narrow head lifted up to watch as the sun was hidden away beneath a carpet of clouds as the wind rolled along from the west.  It swept in a cold front and the dragon's scales bristled against the cold.  With the way it shivered, Iharu could tell it longed for the sun's warmth, but he knew just as well that his dragon would hunt with no less dexterity than usual.

The coming storm would only make the need for a fresh kill all the more necessary and as they watched from the mountaintop, Iharu scanned the treeline below from movement of any kind.  He knelt beside the dragon, spear in hand as his red eyes focused.

"There," Garaduin said to him in Draconic. "To the east!  There is rather large movement in the trees.  Perhaps a smaller dragon."

Iharu furrowed his brow, his cerulean mohawk fluttering on the western breeze.  "You would eat your own kind?" he replied, the language guttural, from deep within his throat.

"To hunt and be hunted is the way of life, Iharu" Garaduin replied.  "I know the way your kind fights, war is always the first and last response.  And do not think I do not know of your people skinning and cooking the dead to send as insult to your enemies.  Small dragons that cannot fight make easy meals for larger ones."

"I know but when you so blatantly acknowledge it, it brings chills to my spine," Iharu replied with a frown.  "If that is your meal, we shall hunt it..."  Iharu stood, tall and lean as was his figure and with a leap, slipped onto the leather and hide saddle fashioned just at the nape of Garaduin's neck.  And with an abrupt "Kya!" they swooped down from the mountain gliding down to the trees below.

[Sumae]

Saphira traveled through the trees in the Thunderblacks with a rather large bag strapped to her back.  It was going to rain and she wanted to do a powering ritual in the storm. 

The trees swayed back and forth with the coming wind and the sky practically crackled with ozone.  It made her feel excited to be out in all of it, but then she wasn't human, being struck by lightning was something she did on a regular basis to heal herself and raise her strength.

The storm dragon who had been in her blood line had been a powerful one and she had the ability to call down storms at her whim, but only if she kept the balance by using natural storms with the powering rituals, giving thanks to the one whose blood gave her this power.

She had just about found the perfect spot when she heard an awful noise and felt a feeling of dread enter her soul.  She began to run, not knowing what she was going to find.

A dragon lay on it's side, a blackened and burned crisp.  It was a female, small, very young.  Every inch of her had been burned by some kind of magic and Saphira could see her heart had been ripped out.

"No," Saphira moaned wanting to go to the corpse but unable to.  The magic that had felled this creature was harmful to her and it was still rather active.  It was some kind of fire spell, directed at dragon kind specifically.  If Saphira got too close she'd go up in flames at least until the magic dissipated. 

[Lion]

Iharu's expression changed when his eyes caught the wind.  Garaduin had caught hold of it too.  The dragon physically shivered and stiffened his head toward the treeline.  They were in tune with one another, the other sensing what the other experienced.  But in this case, there was no denying that that scent on the wind was blood – dragon blood.

There was a sudden sense of alarm flowing through the mid-sized dragon and he swooped down lower to the canopy line and heading closer to the scent.  It was coming from the same spot as the disturbance in the trees and as they flew in faster.  Iharu pulled the spear from it's sheathe on the saddle by his leg and held it in his hands, sweat coming to his palms as the circled the area of brush. 

By now the disturbance had all but stilled as they touched down approximately two hundred yards from the site.  Iharu slid from the dragon, landing on his feet as he cut his eyes through the dense brush.  He signaled for Garaduin to move silently through the trees , covering the other exit point.  As he stepped silently through he soon found the corpse of the dragon laying on its side, completely roasted from head to toe.  He furrowed his brow, sickened by the site of it but refused to allow himself to wallow in sorrow.

There was a stranger nearby, somebody who didn't belong here and could clearly still be a threat.  Iharu scaled a nearby tree and quietly slipped through the branches, as if nothing more than a shadow , blending in with the darkness of the branches.  He pulled a throwing javelin from his back and aimed it expertly at the woman whose back was to him.  He gave only a warning call, holding the weapon high above him and ready to strike should she make any sudden moves.

"If you have done this," Iharu growled from the tree above her.  "Then you will be justly punished for your disrespect of such creatures.  Confess now, or die.  There is no other option."

[Sumae]

Saphira turned and shot her arm up yelling in dragon tongue for wind, aiming it directly for where he was perched in the trees while at the same time rolling to the side.  Strengthened by the gathering storm all she really had to do was tap into the storms energies, it didn't take much effort on her part to call up some pretty strong stuff.

"How dare you!"  She shouted over the wind.

"I am dragonborn!  To accuse me of such an act is the worst of blasphemies!  I should take out your throat with my bare hands."  She bared her teeth at him, her very sharp pretty pointy fangs showing, and hissed. 

She sensed the other dragon and turned towards it, keeping her eye on the man in the trees.  She raised her voice and called to it in dragon tongue.

"Brother, wouldst thou hunt me?  I am no danger to you.  My blood runs cold at the site of this, this horrible desecration."

She turned back to the man in the trees with tears dripping down her face.  "You are a dragon rider.  Help me find who did this!  Help me kill the one responsible."

[Lion]

Iharu was nearly knocked off by the sudden force of wind that threatened to yank him from the branch.  He grunted and held on for dear life, gripping the branch with iron fingers.  He felt the storm building, the air tingling with electricity all around them.  He was caught in the fierceness of the wind, gritting his teeth, when she called upon it.

"Dragonborn?  I've never heard of the kind!" he growled at her.  "The only thing I know is that you're an invader in these lands, the lands of my people and you deserve nothing short of death for the crimes you've committed."  But for all he knew she could very well be telling the truth, yet it was a prospect he did not want to acknowledge.

"Garaduin!  Still these winds!" Iharu cried out when at last he leapt from the tree and as he was landing toward her he held the javelin out in an attempt to strike her.  The dragon breathed in to the storm and winds calmed just enough to give Iharu the leverage he needed.  He didn't trust her, she was a stranger and could very well be lying to him.

[Sumae]

Saphira rolled again and barely evaded being struck through with the javelin.  She rolled again, putting distance between them and reached up and called lightning. 

It shot down coming closer and closer towards him....but it struck her. 

She had been sitting but while the lightning struck the same spot over and over again she stood up and stretched her arms out though the earth blackened and shook.  She opened her mouth and shouted in dragon tongue speaking to him and the dragon from within the lightning.

"Why?  I speak only the truth.  My people are very few, a breed of human mixed with dragon blood.  A long time ago a few dragons had the magic within them to transform into humans and were able to mate with the females of human kind, creating what is known as my race, dragon born.  I am descended of the great dragon Salaman!  He, the bringer of storms, his blood runs through my veins!  I was born in the Thunderblacks and it is here that I have been my entire life.  How dare you question me, impudent whelp!" 

The lightning stopped and there she stood without a scratch on her, glowing with magical power.  Little bits of lightning crackled and snapped from the palms of her hands.

"Challenge me again, and you will pay with your life."

She was delicate, extremely feminine, with just the right amount of curves.  She stood a sight to behold with her hair out and down the palest of blonde whipping back with the wind and her eyes bright and glowing blue and green, swirling with the colors and her fierce intensity.  Her skin glowed with power, it's pale completion a shining beacon in the storm.  She was not afraid of this man or his dragon.

[Lion]

Iharu stood his ground amidst the howling storm.  He was not afraid of this woman or her powers.  He'd seen mages of such strength before, killed a few of them too and perhaps that was not his intention he couldn't allow himself to be swayed so easily lest he dishonor himself and his people.  Iharu covered his face with his arm as the lightning clashed and the thunder rolled and growled until it seemed the very earth itself was shaking underneath his feet.

"It is an honor to die in battle, and against an opponent so powerful.  If you would kill me, I will die fighting.  You blood is of no consequence to me, you defile my land with your foul presence," Iharu hissed between his grit teeth.  He held his spear at the ready should she strike him once more.

[Sumae]

Of all the stupid...Saphira could literally feel her face turning red with anger.  The lightning in her palms crackled faster and larger.

"YOU PEA BRAINED IDIOT!!!" She roared unable to help herself she began yelling at him much the same as a nagging fish wife "WHY WOULD YOU BE SO POSITIVELY STUPID?  YOU DON'T EVEN MAKE ANY SENSE!  YOU HAVENT LISTENED TO A WORD I'VE SAID HAVE YOU?  I LIVE HERE STUPID!  I. LIVE. HERE. GET IT THROUGH YOUR BIG THICK SQUARE HEEEEAAAADDDD!!!!"

Now all the yelling might be childish but the man who had been watching all this unfold to the back hidden among some trees it was deliciously entertaining.  He was a very tall very skinny man all dudded up in fancy clothing and a top hat.  He carried a cane and used it as a magical staff.  It blended in well with regular folk when he was in certain large towns. 

You see, he was a mage, a dark mage.  His entire goal in life however, was to bring down every single dragon breathing that he could.  His name was Bracken Coal and killing dragons was his life's work.  His father had been a dragon hunter, avenging the death of his mother tragically taken and used as a sacrifice for a dragon while his father was away at war.  Bracken had only been two at the time.  An elderly woman had cared for him until his father came home and took him away from that vile place.

Now he had the dragon riders dragon in his sites and with the two of them distracted in their own ridiculously petty squabbling he had a prime chance to get a rather large dragon.  Calling forth his power he began to chant setting his sights directly at the dragons heart.  yes he thought, keep arguing, don't notice the evil man about to wipe out yet another dragon.  Father would be proud.

[Lion]

Perhaps it was foolish, perhaps even reckless, but Iharu faced death every day, from other dragons, to animals in the forest, and those born of supposed dragonblood like this woman weren't any different.  All Umbraeons were born to fight, and they fought to the death with relentless savagery.  He wouldn't back down, even if it meant the death of him.  He didn't fear her, he couldn't, for then even if she killed him, she'd be no better than the one who slew the dragon before them.

Iharu just eyed her with utter focus, needing no words as the lightning crackled more powerfully in her hands.  He just circled her, knowing he was outmatched but would face her all the same.  He tensed his muscles sprang away at any lightning cast away from him.

But behind him, Garaduin waited, feeling the storm.  Yet there was something more and if the scaled creature was human his hackles would have been raised high on the back of his neck.  Garaduin lashed out his tail and whipped out a tree, knocking the sudden stranger away like a fly and the dragon moved toward the dragon's corpse and blasted wind against the lightning woman, blasting her away toward the corpse and lashing out at Iharu just before he lunged himself. 

"STOP THIS!  There is plenty of reason to devour the both of you.  Squabbling like hatchlings over the last scraps," the dragon growled and looked behind him to see the man had vanished from where he is.  "Be wary danger is near.  Someone in the trees."

[Sumae]

"Stop this!" The stupid mans dragon ordered and then warned them both of danger in the trees.  While Saphira was concerned, and startled, and a tad bit scared, she was also incredibly smug.

"See?  I told you, it wasn't me!  The real bad guy is somewhere off in the tree's and your over here giving me a hard time, block head."  She snarled at him before turning towards the trees with a dismissive sniff. 

"All right!  Whoever you are, come out now, and pay for your crimes against this poor dragon!" 

She built her magic up and felt lightning pulsating all over her.  While she had been mad the man accusing her of the act, she was enraged at the man who had actually done it. 
But Bracken had been knocked out of the tree's by the dragons tail and was lying there trying to breath.  Panicking he wheezed and coughed, finally getting his breath back.  He had to get out of here.  He might could take one of them, but one was a lightning wielding crazy woman and the other was a warrior man with a dragon at his beck and call.  No way.

"I wouldn't come near me if I were you!  I've taken that dragons power into my own body!"  Which wasn't true, he would never sully his magic by taking dragon power, "I can kill you with a glance!  Stay away from me, and I'll spare you your lives...this time!"  He cackled out of the trees and then promptly turned around and began running the opposite direction, muttering a spell as he ran.  He could call up a portal to get him enough distance away that he would be safe from them all.

[Lion]

Garaduin kept his distance from the scene, feeling fear sink into his heart.  If a man could so easily kill a dragon - even a smaller one at that - all by himself, there was no telling what he could do to him.  He was not a fool and watched as Iharu finally climbed to his feet and grabbed the javelin that had slipped from his grasp.  And he knew that of all companions he trusted most, it was Garaduin and the Umbraeon would listen to his word most of all.

Iharu, while he knew now the woman was not lying, wasn't one to suffer boasting or gloating and while she was busy charging up her own power, he lifted the weapon shoulder high and narrowed his gaze.  He saw the figure in the distance even through the thickness of trees, saw him moving away from them rather quickly.  He focused, taking in a slow deep breath, until at last his eyes locked on him with killer intention.  And the javelin soon flew from his grip, a blur through the trees.

It took to spinning in the air, it's steel tip ready for blood.  The projectile had been thrown with such focus that even branches and canopy brush that intervened in it's path did nothing to stop it.  And as Bracken ran away from them, his threat falling on deaf ears, he cast the spell that opened the portal of his escape.  But the javelin had been thrown in time and the man gave a cry when the weapon pierced his ribs, a grave grazing through his robes and gouging flesh that would infect if not properly taken care of, the force of which threw him into the portal that promptly closed behind him.

Iharu straightened and pulled another javelin from his back and gave pursuit in the direction where he saw the man run to.

[Sumae]

Saphira, all charged up and ready to do battle, raced with Iharu, keeping easy pace with him as the storm raged around them. 

But Bracken was gone, calling up his spell and jumping into a different place just as they spotted him.  His blood from the wound Iharu had dealt him trailed on the wooded ground and stopped abruptly where he had just disappeared. 

Saphira stopped at the spot where the blood abruptly ended and cursed, letting go of her energy, her charge slowly easing down until she was simply glowing.   

[Lion]

Iharu did much of the same and knelt beside the blood splatter but did not touch it.  The direction the javelin was going, and it's speed, no doubt the javelin went through the portal along with the strange man, but at least he was no longer an immediate threat.  But there was still the small matter as to how he managed to tear apart a dragon.

Iharu stood up and looked over to Saphira.  His face was stern, speculative, but at least he had no intention of killing her - for now at least.  "Wherever he's gone, he won't get far with that wound," the dark elf muttered before walking back to the scene of slaughter.

He looked over to the dragon that had been torn open and chewed on his lip.  The wound was grievous and the dragon continued to smoulder.  Garaduin looked pale, as pale as a dragon could and curled his tail around him, watching Iharu go up to the corpse and freely touching it, noticing the expression on the beast had been one of intense pain. 

"She screamed as he killed her.  And I have a feeling the man enjoyed it."

[Sumae]

Saphira felt the other dragons unease but what could one say in the face of such a travesty?

"She didn't even get a chance to fight him," her words were angry and hot, she felt tears spilling down her cheeks again, "he must have trapped her and hit her with some sort of spell before she could do anything about it."  She turned away from the scene, her shoulders shaking with sobs she was trying to hold back.

"He must pay!  Whoever this sorcerer is, he must pay for his crimes." she sobbed out.

[Lion]

Iharu mused to himself for a long while as he studied the corpse, assessing the damage, the magic.  But at her tears he frowned and turned to her.  "I agree," he said, scratching his head and, seeing where her scales were burned and scorched and ripped apart.  "But we cannot go after him without knowing where he was going, or why he did this.  And tears won't help her now.  Wipe them clean and help me look at the damage.  I do believe whatever energy emanated from her earlier has dissipated."

[Sumae]

Saphira nodded in grumpy agreement and went to stand next to him studying the grizzly remains. 

"His magic is powerful, but he is a coward.  He attacks from afar and runs away when challenged.  He's going to be difficult prey.  He has no honor.  How are we going to track someone who can just disappear like that?  We didn't even get all that good a look at the man."

Saphira thought hard trying to come up with some sort of idea as a starting point but could think of nothing.

[Lion]

Iharu knelt in the empty crust of the dragon's body, no more than a husk of smoke and ash.  He waved his hand over the side of it, trying to concentrate, focus on the traces of energy therein.  They were dragon-specific, it seemed, and it was unlike anything he'd ever felt before.  He was not an Ankuman, like his cousin, and could not hone in on the exact kind of magic it was, but it certainly was mean to completely eradicate and destroy the insides of one such creature.

"It is apparent from the energy signature that this kind of magic was meant to catch the dragon off guard, or else it wouldn't have worked," Iharu deduced.  His expression was grim, but eyes still sorting everything out.  "He would have had to have caught it by surprise, possibly paralyzing the dragon, then attacking her with this peculiar energy, rendering her truly defenseless.  I'm not sure, but I think a dragon's hyperawareness may be able to counter act the magic?  I cannot say for sure though.  I think my cousin may be able to help us find out more on what killed her.  He is a hunter in these lands and may be hard to find.  Can you fly on your own?"

He was looking at her now, in the same hard suspicious eyes that gauged her.

[Sumae]

"I can fly though if I have to fly very far it takes quite a lot of energy out of me." 

But, she had just charged up so she knew she could go quite a while before tiring.  She met his suspicious stare with an annoyed one of her own.  "If your going to stare at me like that then can we at least be on our way?  We're wasting time."  She snapped in annoyance.

"You lead the way and I will follow.  If I grow tired I will signal you."

[Lion]

"Yes, I suppose so," Iharu grumbled, sizing her up without so much as a change in his expression.  "Mu-zha-kalla 'm-ka." he cursed in his native tongue which meant something along the lines of a sarcastic little prick when he moved back to Garaduin.  The great dragon bowed to his rider and lowered enough to let him mount onto his back.  Iharu climbed on and was soon off in the sky out toward the trees where he knew his cousin in this time of year.