The cake is a lie (Brisinger987)

[paganchick]

Sapphira knew that this should be easy right. Hunting something that has no idea you were coming was always easy. She flew low to keep her from being seen until the very last moment, then she would roast him and it would be over.
This one she didn't have too much emotional investment in, he wasn't a dragon killer he was a buyer of parts, though as far as she had found out he only bought things he happened upon, he never ordered certain parts. This was why he was going to get a quick death, this was why he was going to get skipped in all of the tortures that she usually inflicted.
She looked up at the sky, almost perfectly cloudless, which in a way worked against her. Clouds came in handy when it came to hiding. Still he wasn't expecting her so it still would be easy.

Her wings carried her silently through the air, gliding along the winds as the sun continued to beat down on her. She had to worry about her shadow now that she drew closer, if he saw that he would know something was coming. Of course he was in the thunder backs to there was always the possibility that he wouldn't freak out if he saw a dragons shadow. She also had to think about the fact that she was a very large dragon, a very large dragon who was flying low, which was rare unless she was looking for food.

[Brisinger987]

Torak opened the roof of the main caravan, leaving it like that. No damned dragon would kill this client. He was being paid a hefty sum to protect this client through the Thunderblacks, and the dragon that was supposed to be assassinating the target would be obvious. A huge grey/silver dragon.

The caravan travelled the first mile in peacefully. Torak constantly checked the ground behind the caravan for shadows. If the dragon was smart, it would leave on Torak's warning shot, the huge firebomb. Cold fire, but fire nonetheless.

Then he spotted the shadow. Torak hopped up on the stand placed in the caravan, clearly visible, poking out the top of the caravan. "Leave now dragon, and leave with your life." Torak warned the dragon, the pendant around his neck being a recent acquisition from the client that projected his voice for the dragon to hear.

[paganchick]

Sapphira heard someone speak and she let out a frustrated roar.
Someone had tipped the guy off, but who, who had she told? She felt her blood turn cold and the fire in her stomach churn. Plus who was this man in the caravan, who did he think he was? Could she smell nervousness, maybe even hesitation?
Her eyes narrowed on him.

'This is not your fight young one, if I were you I would take whatever bounty you have been given to protect this man and run, and I will leave you with your life. I will only fight you if you choose to stand in my way,' She spoke mentally to the man her gaze was locked on.

She didn't like killing innocent people, but as she said, if they stood in her way she would have no problem torching him like the rest. She didn't give the man long to think about what she said before she opened her great jaws and let loose hot flames. The flames shot out, torching the front of the caravan.

[Brisinger987]

Torak ducked, pulling on the chain hiding the bomb, which dropped and spewed white fire everywhere. Dragons were one of the few things that definitely frightened him, and he was reluctant to start shooting at the dragon, but a client was paying a huge sum of money if the man inside the caravan didn't get roasted or eaten, and arrived with his parts.

The man was now at the rear end of the caravan, and Torak took a quick second to evaluate the situation. He could distract the dragon by teleporting onto it, but they were moving to fast to make an accurate teleport. And he really didn't wanna get munched by some huge, fire breathing reptile. Too scary a concept. He could teleport the man away, but would again, likely get munched. The only other option was to fight it from the caravan, and possibly get torched.

Making a quick decision, Torak loosed two bolts from his wrist mounted crossbow, aimed at her chest, as the horses at the front of the caravan got torched. He just prayed it would hit her.

[paganchick]

Sapphire continued to spill fire onto the caravan. Even if she didn't kill the man directly he was going to have to walk the rest of the way on foot. She was having fun, and that was when she felt the first wave of pain. She looked over, seeing blood dripping from her forewing.
She let out a screeching roar. Each beat of her wings was more than excruciating and just keeping her wings expanded open was painful. She let out more fire, this fire hotter than the one before.
The pain fueling her rage but she knew she wouldn't be able to keep it up, she would have to leave before she damaged her wing too much so she would still be able to fly.

Sapphira turned, her fire leaving the survives encircles in high violent flames and that was when she felt the next arrow. This one in her side between her front and back legs. She let out a deep grumble of a roar as she flew away fast to avoid any more arrows. She could feel her blood seeping from her wounds and the arrow in her side still remained.

She flew as long as she could before the dizziness and weakness of blood loss caused her wings to  give out, sending her crashing down to the ground.

[Brisinger987]

Veraxitoc had only seen the female dragon limply flying away.

The majority of the day had been just making sure Seh'lvah and Shamgar had been behaving the night before. Now he had gone to take his one possession from Dragon-top mountain. He had decided to take a small fly by of the whole mountain pass, when he had spotted the injured dragoness. She was definitely older than Seh'lvah. Perhaps she would be interested in the Colony.

As soon as Veraxitoc helped her.

Veraxitoc landed nearby, trying to look as friendly as possible in case she thought he was there to kill her. He approached with his head lowered, and drew out all his steps in case she snarled at him, or decided to bite at his legs.

"Excuse me miss? Are you ok?" Veraxitoc tilted his head, speaking physically to her.

[paganchick]

Sapphira had landed hard, she had heard a few bones snap before she felt them. So she lay there, breathing slowly, letting her body heal. She would have to get the arrow out but it would be hard, and would probably mean that she would bleed more which was not good.
She had let herself get sloppy, she should have been able to take the man that stood between her.

All of the buzzing of the thoughts in her head drowned out the sound of the approaching dragon until he spoke. With the wound of his voice Sapphira's body jerked roughly to her feet, her body crouched low, her muscles tense in case she would have to fight. If one looked close enough they would see the pain in her eyes from the movement and position she was in, but she wouldn't let it show in her posture. She didn't know if the dragon was friendly or not. He was bigger than she was, not by too much but by enough that in her current health would be a problem.

In good health and without the injured wing she could out fly most dragons because he build was for speed and agility, not brute strength.

She didn't speak for a long time, in this form she couldn't speak physically at all, she had to speak to beings minds. After a few moments of silence, of looking him over, studying him she decided to reply

'What do you want?' She asked to his mind. She didn't meet too many dragons her size, and not many that were nearly her age, she could tell by looking at him that he was older than she was. 

[Brisinger987]

Veraxitoc wasn't close enough to see pain in her eyes, but he noticed the blood dripping from her wing, and decided that was enough to go with for now.

"I saw you were injured, do you require help? I can heal broken bones if you have any, and am willing to find the plants if you know any healing recipes."

She wasn't much smaller than him, and he couldn't tell what species she was. From her colours, she might pass off as a Crystal-back, but he didn't know. She was injured, and may desire help. That was enough for him.

[paganchick]

Sapphira once again studied the male, was he really just wanting to help a complete stranger? She found it very odd, and very suspicious.

'What do you want in return?' She asked, a soft rumble, almost like a growl coming from her chest, almost as if she were trying to speak the words in her dragon form, or heating up the fire in her gut, preparing to throw flames to defend herself if she must.

Still her eyes continued to study the dragon in front of her, looking for any weaknesses in case he wanted something more out of her than she was willing to give. He was built opposite of her, he was built to take damage, he would be slower though. She on the other hand was built for speed, but she wouldn't be able to take near the damage he would be able to take. With her current wounds she was in no way in a condition to fight the male. Of course, if it came down to it, she wouldn't let her wounds keep her from trying to put up a fight.

[Brisinger987]

Veraxitoc hadn't intended to get anything back, but he could ask her to hear him out on an offer to join the Colony.

"I would ask that you hear me out on a proposal. Not the romantic kind." Veraxitoc remained silent, not preparing to attack, and thus taking a leap of faith in this dragon. If she attacked him, he would defend himself, but she would have an upper hand for a few seconds.

He used his stance to convey the message that he would not be aggressive, although he trusted her not to attack.

[paganchick]

Sapphira let out an audible sigh of relief, sending a slight billow of smoke into the air. The male didn't want to mate, that was good. She of course knew there would be no child from the union if he had because she could only become pregnant if she mated while in heat, and she wasn't in heat. Still the thought of mating turned her stomach, and it had for a long, long time, ever since her last mate had been killed.

She lowered her body to the ground with a groan. Her body ached and the arrow in her side was like a literal thorn in her side and she wanted it out.
'Could you get the arrow out of my side?' She asked simply. She usually wasn't one to ask for help but she couldn't reach it and could turn into her human form with it stuck in her side or she would cause more damage to her body.

[Brisinger987]

"Of course I can. You may have to lie on your side. I will try and remove it as painlessly as possible." The bolt hadn't lodged too deeply, but Veraxitoc couldn't see if it had an arrowhead style head, or was simply a pointed metal stick with fletching on it.

Veraxitoc clasped it, keeping it as still as he could, and with his other paw on the area around the bolt began to try and remove it, desperate to avoid twisting it or catching anything.

[paganchick]

Sapphira moved to her side. Her wounded wing was on the same side that the arrow wound injury was on, and she was sure he would see it as well, the rest of her wound would be easier to heal once she was in her avatar, human form.

Sapphira flinched slightly when she felt him touch the arrow, clenching her jaws as he began to pull.
'just hurry up and take it out, it hurts more if you pull it out slowly' She mentally spoke to the male, her voice a near growl.

OOC:Taken out of context Sapphira's words would sound so pervy.

[Brisinger987]

OOC: My eyes read the slanted text first, lol, and I had to remember that we were talking about an arrow/bolt

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Veraxitoc listened to her as he pulled it out. It was, in essence, and pointy stick with fletching. That was good. Made them easy to get out, but by the same token, the penetrated the skin better. At least he could get the other one out now. "There you go, one bolt. Do you want me to cauterise the wound? Or leave it?" He hoped she knew what cauterising was. Few healers knew what it was, let alone just normal dragons.

In his head, instinct told him she was rather attractive, but he easily ignored it. He always had with female dragons. And, more importantly, she was injured. She needed taking care of.

[paganchick]

Sapphira was glad when the arrow was out, she took a deep slow breath.
'No, cauterizing could cause infection, plus I don't know if it was poisoned,' Sapphira spoke craning her long neck to look at the wound slightly. It eased blood, which wasn't good do to the fact that she had already lost so much. Still she didn't want it Cauterized.

For a moment she sat there in silence before finally shifting into her avatar form, in that form it was much easier to see how broken she actually was, and it would make it easier to treat the injuries considering she was much smaller and scales and stuff wouldn't get in the way. She was clothed when she shifted, she always was, and she was thankful for that considering she was around a stranger.

[Brisinger987]

Veraxitoc watched her as she shifted. He had done that once. He couldn't remember how. In all truthfulness, the dark blight had done it.

"How do you do that? I have seen so many dragons do that before, but I have no clue how?" Veraxitoc was curious. His head was tilted and he watched intently. It would make interactions easier if he knew how to do it.

[paganchick]

Sapphira flinched as she shrugged.
"I don't know, I just do it. I just... imagine myself turning to this form, kind of... Like the first time you fly, you just tell yourself to do it, then you do it," Sapphira tried to explain as she lay on the ground. Her entire body hurt, she felt like she had been run over by a herd of elephants. She knew that most of the pain was from the fall out of the sky, she now wished she had just landed instead of trying to keep going.

[Brisinger987]

Veraxitoc was very confused. He had already tried that and it had failed.

"How long have dragons been doing that? I don't remember seeing it before my long sleep." Veraxitoc tried thinking of as many ways to do it as possible. That blight had done it. How?

Veraxitoc willed and reasoned and tried in his mind, and failed all of them.

[paganchick]

"Not all species can, my species have been doing it as long as we have existed," She took a deep breath. She had never had any problem shifting, it was always something that had come naturally to her.

"Try relaxing, if you try too hard it won't work, I don't know, imagine your scales falling off, like you are shedding your outer exterior?" She suggested. She closed her eyes and tried to relax, she knew she had several broken bones and moving around wasn't going to help her any.

[Brisinger987]

"Are you still hurt? I am forgetting that you fell from a fair height. I can heal broken bones magically, but nothing else I am afraid..." He almost didn't say that last sentence, nearly telling her that she was outright pretty. Stop being stupid, you will find a mate one day, he thought to himself. He was wary of thinking, because of he stunt where spoke to him psychically. He could do that, but he always chose not to, he found the process too invasive.

Veraxitoc tried to hide the signs on nervousness, and thought he was doing well.