Chapter Fifteen
The dragon stood; gold and fire and blackest night. Not as small as Nakomii, bigger then Nym, but not by much. And the form was different. Where Nakomii, Nym, every dragon Dekani had ever seen, stood at a slant, hips lower then shoulders and shoulders lower then the heads that perched on long curving necks, this dragon… didn’t.
This dragon’s back was nearly as level as the ground it stood upon, though the shoulders were heavily muscled and were slightly higher then the hips, it wasn’t a lot. And the neck, the neck was shorter then it should have been, the head longer, somehow more elegant then Nym’s. Then Nakomii’s. The wings were larger then Nym’s, larger then Nakomii’s, and the horns curved in an arc that was almost non-existent; unlike the rather sharp curves on Nym and Nakomii’s horns- on the dragons Dekani knew, the horns nearly curved into a circle, like some of the wooly sheep in the mountains that Dekani had eaten once.
This was something else.
The dragon lashed its tail, and roared words Dekani didn’t understand. But the result was quick to come, in the form of a female, like Dekani yet… not…
Black hair. White skin that… wasn’t skin. Silver eyes. And no nails to speak of. Dekani looked down at her own black talons and wondered how the woman got along without them. And, as the dragon was bigger then any Dekani had seen close up, so too was the woman taller then Dekani. Taller then Dekani remembered her mother being, even. And… the walk was different, upon the balls of her feet instead of flat as Dekani used when not hunting.
Was the woman hunting?
The woman and dragon seemed to speak, though Dekani could not understand the language. Then, almost as if one, the dragon and the woman turned to look at her, green eyes and silver eyes meeting her own.
And, as in many of her dreams that she remembered, Dekani could see without blur; and she could see the question in their eyes. But they did not see her. They seemed to, but did not.
Dekani stood there for a few moments longer, dragon, woman and the background cave burnt into her mind, before she woke up.
There was no leap to her feet, just an opening of her eyes to stare up at the white bone above her head. Though she was awake, and not tired, Dekani didn’t move. This was peaceful, and besides, she wished to run through the dream again.
Twice, she ran over what she had seen, and twice she wondered why she had seen it. Finally, she gave it up. She would find out, or she wouldn’t. If Dekalagh chose not to reveal this information under her eye, or Anosan didn’t bring understanding with his light, well, she was just a small, harmless creature to them.
Finally, Dekani got to her feet, and started to walk around the bone pile. It was home, to her, and yet, it wasn’t. This confused her, and about this she thought.
The first home she had known, the woods of the mountains, she had left. And this, the bone pile, was all she had left. If she returned to the woods, she would return to her first home, the one that held her heart. The plains were all well and good, but… she missed the trees, the way the scents wrapped themselves around and over and through everything, painting a virtual picture in scent.
She missed the hidden glades, the streams small and the rivers large. She missed the thrill of relying on nothing more then scent and hearing to find her food, and the way the woods seemed to come alive and help her; with a pile of thorny brush or a sudden drop down four, five feet. She missed her home, and she would return.
But not yet.
After coming to that decision, Dekani turned her face to Anosan’s eye which was starting to rise above the line between earth and sky. She tilted her face upwards slightly, breathing out in a sigh as the first of the light hit her face, caressed her cheekbones and throat, warming her blood and awakening the fire that was so needed for survival.
She was unused to thinking, and wasn’t entirely comfortable doing so. But this, this required no thought, just the simple enjoyment of being alive and warm.
Movement behind her ruined the moment, and Dekani turned to look at Nym. The dragon was getting to her feet, swaying from side to side. Dekani moved as if to help, but the female hissed, wings half spreading and banging into bone. Dekani halted, and stood as finally, finally Nym got her balance. Then, dragon and the creature that wasn’t a pest, but was known as one, stood and looked at each other.
Nym was the one to speak first. “You are not dragon,” she said, sounding almost unsure of herself. Dekani nodded.
“Yes. But I am not a pest, either. None of my people are. You, you must know this else you will have to leave. And here there is much food, and water nearby if you want it.” Dekani stood, lit from the side and back by the sun, a sight to inspire. Her snow white complexion and hair, partnered with her pink eyes, added to her distinction in Nym’s eyes. Dekani was a chosen of Dekalagh, and her words had meaning, no matter what she was.
“Very well. Then what are you?” Nym moved forward half a step, not towards the meat her stomach was crying for, but towards Dekani. Not because she wanted to harm the woman, no, but because this was interesting, and at the moment anything that wasn’t right close up was blurry. A result of blood loss, Nym knew, and while certain plants would have helped if pressed on the eyelids and the juices squeezed out, rest and food would help as well.
Dekani shrugged. “I do not know. I know that I, myself, am a chosen of Dekalagh, but as a species… no, I have no idea. Maybe once, we had a name, but no longer.” Dekani paused, and then asked, “Do you remember my name?”
Nym nodded, and Dekani nodded back. Then, as if one, they turned to the piled up meat, and started eating. Nym noticed Dekani’s limp arm, and Dekani noticed how Nym held one wing. But no mention was made of it, no mention would be made of it until after eating.
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Nakomii growled to himself, and continued to pace. Already, the grass showed wear in the form of a path; the path he had walked since he had gotten far enough away so that the female dragon's scent was no longer in his nose, no longer affecting his judgment.
His eyes seemed to glow, but only because the sun was in them, turning them a molten copper color, when they were not normally so.
Pausing in his restless motions, he shook his head. His horns jangled against the hollow spines on his neck, which bristled as if he were in battle. And he was, just not against anyone else.
Against his own nature.
Instinct demanded, his entire being demanded, that he return to the female and court her. Mate her. But his mind held him back. What female would accept him, anyway? He’d grown, yes, but he was still small.
So was she.
His limbs were still twisted, despite the fact that he had grown.
She had wings so small they were almost useless.
“No!” Nakomii started, not having meant to speak. “No,” he repeated, hitting his paw against his head. He would not, could not, take advantage of the female. Spring it may be, male he may be, female she may be, he would not mate her. He would not!
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Dekani finally leant back from the meat, stomach full. She started to lick her hand, getting the blood off, being careful around her nails. Finally, when she couldn’t see any blood on her hand at all, she licked her palm and then ran her hand over her chin. She repeated the actions several times, until her hand no longer came back smeared with blood. Nym watched, looking like a lioness at rest.
“So,” Nym said, looking at the hand and arm that dangled like the dead weight it was. “What happened to your arm?”
Dekani looked up, and thought back. First, there was a lynx, and then there was a wolf, and then there was a big cat hunt gone bad.
“I fought many creatures, and sometimes, my shoulder would be bitten. When I fought a big cat, it nearly killed me. I can’t use my arm anymore. I can still hunt, but it is bothersome. Maybe I should tie it down…” Dekani went silent, thinking. Nym too, thought, but along different lines then Dekani.
Finally, she spoke. “Dekani, I am a dragon Healer. Anosan blessed me with the Gift, and I could try using it on your arm. You would have to trust me though, because you will have to eat something that will put you to sleep. Otherwise the pain would kill you. But if what you eat doesn’t work right, you will sleep and die. Or you will bleed and die.” Nym’s tail slapped the ground, and she stopped talking.
Dekani looked at Nym, then down at her shoulder. There was risk, but wasn’t there risk in everything? Did not every hunt have the possibility that she would die?
“If I do not eat, I will die. If I cannot hunt, I will not eat. Come winter, I will have trouble eating. In winter, you have to hunt big things, because all the little things are gone. All life is a risk. Do your dragon healing. If I die, I die. If I do not, I will be able to hunt like I used to, again.”
“Well, maybe not as before…” Nym got to her feet, and walked away from the bone pile a few paces, then stopped and stretched. Her claws tore at the ready ground, as her jaws stretched open as far as they would go. Her wings extended far above her head, before folding along her back. “Come, we must find the plants.”
Dekani nodded, and followed Nym. Dekani didn’t know how Nym knew where to go, but followed. Her arm flopped at her side, swung and banged. But soon the irritant would disappear, and it would be like before.
Nym stopped, several hours later. Anosan was directly above, shining down upon their heads. Dekani didn’t look up, instead she looked down and squinted. The light, although it felt good on her, hurt her eyes. In the dreams, she remembered, her eyes didn’t hurt, but that was dreams. Sighing, Dekani looked up at Nym, who was sniffing at a patch of green that looked just like everything around it. Then, Nym moved away and started walking again. Dekani followed.
They returned to the bone pile late at night, Nym with plants she’d found a ways away, and Dekani looking… blank. Very blank, as if she held no emotion, was just a walking shell. Inside, she was bored. If not for the knowledge that Nym was looking for plants to help her, Dekani would have left Nym to it and hunted not long after the two started walking. Only the continued irritant from her arm, which continued to swing and bang against her leg kept Dekani from asking time and again how long it would take. Now, they were back.
“Now?” No need to clarify, Nym surely knew. Just in case Nym didn’t, Dekani held up her useless arm, black nails scraping against her limp wrist.
Nym looked up at the moon, and nodded. “Now is as good as any time. The light is good, there is… yes, there is hide from this creature that was slain. I will need it to tie off your shoulder. Lie down on the ground, please.”
Dekani lay down, though she privately thought Nym sounded distracted. “If you are distracted because it is spring, I am worried. Perhaps we should do this later, when you are not so…” Her good hand waved in the air, and Nym sighed.
“That’s not it. Eat these.” Dekani swallowed the plants, and stared up at the night sky. The large blur that was Dekalagh’s eye stared down at her, in a sea of midnight. Fighting back a yawn, Dekani let herself sleep.
Nym kept an eye on her patient. Her back teeth worked at the hide, turning it to a flexible thong of leather. Then, watching Dekani’s breathing, she pulled the big cat pelt off her shoulder, tying the thong around the woman’s arm, tight enough that the blood would be stopped.
This was going to be tricky.
Nym scraped her claws against her teeth, growling to herself. The sense that this was wrong bothered her, she had eaten pests before, and Dekani didn’t seem all that different. Except, tora Rashia didn’t think they were pests… oh, it wasn’t the time for a philosophical talk with herself! Mind on the work, Nym!
Talons that were slightly cleaner then before pressed against Dekani’s skin, just below the thong. No change in breathing, which was deeper, slower then when the woman had fallen asleep. Even when Nym’s claws cut through to the muscle and bone underneath, there was no change. And the tourniquet was doing its job; only a light ooze of blood welled up around the gray claws.
Tilting her head, Nym started to cut. The lack of proper flesh and muscle around the joint worried her, but all it really did was make her job easier. The rest of the arm was actually fine, but around the shoulder area… Nearly killed her indeed. Dekani had been lucky all she’d gotten was a pulped shoulder.
Finally, all that was left was the bone. Swallowing the saliva that had gathered in her mouth and was threatening to drip down her jaw, Nym leaned her head down, and started to strip the flesh from around the area she’d need to break, using her teeth as surgical tools.
Finally, there was a spot all around, where she brought her closed fist down. A sharp crack, and then there was an unattached arm where there hadn’t been one before. Anosan was starting to rise above the horizon.
Oblivious to the black shadow, standing watching her in frozen silence, Nym picked up the arm in her mouth, and started to wrap scraps of mammoth hide around the small, faint stub of arm left on Dekani’s shoulder.
Then, once finished, she tossed her head back and swallowed the arm. No sense wasting meat and besides… it might frighten Dekani once she woke up.
It was then that the black shadow leapt into the air. Only a few minutes later, Nym felt weight on her back, coupled with searing pain at the thrust behind it.
Howling in rage at the attack, Anosan’s favorite turned her head and ripped into the snarling dragon on her back.
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Dekani groaned to herself, bringing her hand up to her forehead. What a headache… she hadn’t felt this way… ever! Whatever that stuff had been, well, it had worked. Still, nasty after effect.
Enraged sounds, like two lynx fighting over food, or two wolves fighting for a female, finally penetrated the mist clouding Dekani’s mind. Turning her head, the blood scent was ignored as she did her best to sit up.
Nakomii and Nym were fighting like two enraged beasts, which they probably were. Nakomii was defensive for the moment; wings folded yet held out to his sides, fore claws slashing the air in front of Nym’s face. Nym, for her part, had flared wings and her paws were almost planted in the ground like a tree. Her eyes were blazing, jaws snapping closed just inches from Nakomii’s paws.
“Stop,” Dekani croaked, before closing her eyes. Briefly, she spared a thought to her strange lack of balance, before forcing herself to sit up. Her hand braced against the ground, and she tried to move her other hand to her head. That was what was supposed to happen, after all, Nym had fixed her. Swallowing, Dekani tried again. This time, the two dragons slowed in their frenzy.
“Stop it both of you! Nakomii, I’m fine! Nym… Nakomii was only worried about me. Please, stop fighting you two.” Dekani tried to muster energy to talk, but she felt so tired. She hadn’t felt this tired since she’d fought the big cat and lost. Her arm had… her arm! Looking down where her arm was supposed to be, Dekani felt puzzled. It was gone. It wasn’t there.
Then, finally, it dawned on her. Nym hadn’t fixed her arm… she’d removed it! Dekani couldn’t help it. She screamed, a panicked sound that, contrary to the croaked words from before, sounded as strong as the two dragon’s fury. Stronger, even.
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Nakomii had felt fury such as he’d never felt before, when he’d seen that pale limb go down the dragon’s throat. Without even thinking, he’d used his new favorite way of attack; diving down from above and, if lucky, breaking his target’s spine.
Not so with this dragon female. She’d thrown him off, and then they were circling each other, snapping and clawing. Once he’d gotten a hold on her muzzle, but she’d wrenched away. Seconds later, he’d nearly lost an eye to her whipping tail.
Dekani’s voice started to cut through his rage, but he didn’t listen. Then she’d screamed. That had gotten his attention. He’d hurried to her side, startled and a little angry that the dragon female who had eaten her arm, hurried to Dekani’s side as well.
“Dekani! Dekani what… Gods! You! How dare you?” Nakomii turned to the dragon female, only to halt. Turning his head, he stared at his little one, who had his wing edge in her teeth. “Dekani, let me go…” She tried to shake her head.
“Dekani. Let go. You’ll wreck your teeth that way. Come, try to stand. That’s it.” Nakomii watched in surprise as the dragon female helped his little one to stand. And, seeing someone else help his little one… he felt a sense of loss.
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Nym sighed. Dekani had finally slept. Curled up next to this… Nakomii. It had taken all day, and much meat, until, worn out from worrying, and sadly, breaking up fights between the two dragons, Dekani had allowed herself to be stuffed full of food. Then she had crawled over to Nakomii and slept. How, Nym didn’t know. Surely, it had to be uncomfortable, all contorted and crossed over herself as she was.
“So…” she began, before looking up to meet Nakomii’s gaze. Green eyes, was the only coherent thought to cross her mind, before she looked away. She forced herself to breath, clearing her mind as a healer should. Proper introductions were necessary… yes, very, very necessary. Especially after that morning.
Standing up, Nym centered herself, lifting one paw to touch her forehead, then the tips of her two horns. Smaller then Nakomii’s, and he was barely bigger then she was. Meeting his gaze, which was mixed between worry and anger, she spread her wings and displayed her throat. She held the pose for several seconds, before dropping her chin. “I am Nym, a favorite of Anosan and a Healer. Your Dekani asked me to heal her to the best of my ability, and the arm was not set properly. There was no way to save it, so I took it off. In a few days, she will not even notice the difference.”
Nakomii made as if to stand up, but then froze. Dekani’s hand had clenched, ever so slightly, around his wing edge. He lay back down. “As you can see, I cannot get up. However, I am Nakomii, guardian of Dekani, chosen of Dekalagh. But she is not ‘mine’. She is her own. Why should I believe what you say, ‘Healer’?”
Nym snorted. What an idiot male. Then again, weren’t they all? At least until they had children and had to smarten up, anyway. “Tora Rashia taught me that lying was a sin to the Mother and Father, and it was not to be done.”
“You know tora Rashia?” Nakomii wasn’t really asking, though. Tora Rashia didn’t travel, and most parents liked to hover over their children. Besides, hadn’t Nym said that tora Rashia had taught her? Which would require her knowing him?
“Who in our clan doesn’t? He is the one who gave me the excuse that I was leaving to look for a mate, so I could leave. Then again, who is to say I wasn’t?” Nym spread her wings to the side, giving Nakomii a coy look. Laughing to herself at the nervous, shocked look on his face, she turned away. “But then, I see you’ve already found yourself a partner.”
Then, she ran. Nakomii growled to himself, suddenly uncomfortable with Dekani so close to him. Curse that female!
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Dekani ran her hand over the stub of her arm. It was as long as her smallest finger.
“This doesn’t change anything.” Looking up at the two dragons, she smirked. If she hadn’t been sleeping and eating so much for the past few days, she would have definitely enjoyed watching the two of them dance around each other.
First, Nakomii had started everything by bringing Nym a fresh-caught deer. Nym had shared the deer with Dekani, despite the… obvious wish from Nakomii that she didn’t. Then, Nym had brushed up against Nakomii during one of the trips Dekani made to get fresh water, and hadn’t moved away. Dekani had only seen that because she was walking behind the two, holding onto Nym’s longer tail.
Then, Nakomii had brought a bird to Nym, after the female dragon had confessed she loved partridge meat… apparently, partridge was the bird Nakomii had caught.
After that, the two had spent time, well, flirting…and the past day they hadn’t been out of each other’s company. If Dekani was to trust her nose, and she did, Nym was going to be a proud mother. And Nakomii was confused.
Now, the two were practically fused to each other’s sides, wings and tails tangled together, sides pressed so close together… How anyone could enjoy being that close to another so much, Dekani didn’t know.
“Change what?” Nakomii lifted his head. It looked very odd, since Nym’s mane was black and it looked as if her neck belonged to his body and his neck was attached to her mane. Dekani only flexed her hand, and looked at Nym.
“Why, my return to the mountain, of course.”
“What?”
