Chapter Nineteen
Tora Rashia growled, low in his throat. Impudent little snakes! Planning the ‘great extinction’ of the so-called ‘pests’. He despised that! The Mother and Father had created everything, prey and non-prey, the trees and the earth, the dragons and the… unnamed others. They were all children of the Gods. The prey was on this earth to feed the hunters. And these snakes were just flaunting their foolish pride, their belief that they were right and the Gods, the Gods, were wrong!
Tora Rashia, for a moment, did not feel the ache in his bones as he lashed his tail and clawed at the ground. His jaws snapped closed several times as he glared down at the group. Obelisk, Finti, that one brute Denn… Snakes, the lot of them!
Not that Rashia could see the fool snakes. No, he knew them only by their scents, but that was more then enough. Fools, who couldn’t do anything right. It was no wonder that they had no mates, no proper dens, no nothing! Soon, when they were below ground with Gimik, they would know what horrors they had caused and why they were burning! But they would not listen until then, Rashia admitted. Not until their death day, when the Shadow Walker came to take them away.
Feeling the age in his bones and the ache in his joints, Rashia looked around. They said that the blind could see the Shadow Walker; the deaf could hear its walk. And he was waiting, looking every day. His time was growing short, he could feel it. But he still had things to do! He had to right a wrong he had started, in his youth, his foolish, stupid youth…
Back before many of the trees, Rashia remembered, dragons and… oh, he couldn’t remember what they were called, draco-somethings, lived together, or they almost had. There were always fights, but they were what you would expect. And then Rashia, before he had become tora, had killed many draco-somethings, just because he could. And the dragons had believed him. Believed that the draco-somethings had threatened him with weapons once held by the healers only. It was his fault that the draco-somethings were being killed, that the fool-hearted snakes below were going to kill all of the shorter-lived cousins of theirs.
It was his fault… all his fault. He had thought, hoped, prayed that the two children he had nurtured, once he had admitted his mistake to himself, that they would end this foolish war. But they hadn’t! Obelisk was speaking out against the pests, more now that Nakomii had visited. And Nym… just a child!
His breath rasped in his throat, unseeing eyes widening. The Shadow Walker, darker then anything, was there. Its form was shrouded by shadows, but it was there.
“Rashia.”
Rashia trembled. “It… it is my time, then?”
He could have sworn the Shadow Walker smiled, and shook its head. “No, not yet. You have one last chance, Rashia, to live up to your calling of tora. Don’t let it go, or you will be the one burning.” The Shadow Walker turned, and then Rashia couldn’t see it anymore.
Limbs trembling, he started to walk down from his den. Yes… yes, he would right what he had done, to the best of his ability. Thankfully, he knew just where they would be. At least he had done one thing right.
Turning his head in the direction of the storm pass, Rashia did his best to move fast.
Dragons did not fly over the storm pass, not after he had told one of his stories.
Thankfully, he had never told Nakomii or Nym about the storm pass. So, if they were alive, they would be there. The draco-somethings would be there. And…
He would die there.
---
M-gan struggled to open his eyes. Everything was dark; the goddess having closed her eye for that night. But her spent tears cast enough light that he could see, barely.
The creature he had hunted stood in the standing water, eating. Every so often it would lift its head and look over at him. M-gan didn’t try to move; he had learned quickly that moving, and making noise, made it attack him all the harder.
There was blood in his mouth, in his nose, in his eyes. The tips of one hand felt like the flesh had been stripped off it; at a careful glance he could only see missing nails. The flesh was still there, but it was very red and oozed blood.
Breathing hurt; something was likely broken in his chest. He did not know the words for the bones inside. No one had for a very long time. Many short, short generations. And it was likely that he would not see the next one be born, either. Not with him like this, unable to get up and get away.
Gy-ren would become Dekani’s mate, then, M-gan thought. There was an ache in his chest not connected to anything broken or bruised, and his throat tightened. He truly thought she was his court, but if this was how his hunt turned out, then… perhaps Dekalagh did not want her child to be with him. M-gan let his eyes close again, and tried not to think. It would make it easier when death claimed him.
But oh! It hurt to think of Dekani and Gy-ren together!
---
Dekani looked around. It wasn’t doing any good, nor was searching the air for one particular scent.
M-gan was missing, had been for several days, gone longer then any of the other groups of males. Gy-ren had given her a rabbit, but she didn’t want it. She was worried, about M-gan mostly.
“Ti-rill… have you seen M-gan?” Dekani’s brows furrowed; she felt them. M-gan looked strange with his brows furrowed, she thought. Surely she did too. Still, she hoped that the young boy knew where M-gan was.
“No, I haven’t Dekani. Is something wrong?” Ti-rill put down the stick he was working on, and walked over. He glanced over to where Nym was snarling at sticks and branches and leaves, and lowered his voice. “Is M-gan missing? Have you talked to his brother, Gy-ren?”
Dekani nodded, also glancing over at Nym. But she didn’t bother to lower her voice. Perhaps Nym would know something, and surely she was listening. “I have, but he says he does not know. And he gets upset when I ask about M-gan. He yelled yesterday.” Dekani shook her head, and clenched her hand. “I… I am worried. I think that M-gan went out hunting alone, and I have never seen any male go out hunting alone before! There are many dangers…” Without thinking, Dekani reached up and touched the stump of an arm.
Ti-rill looked at where Dekani’s arm should have been, and nodded. “You’re right. But Gy-ren won’t tell you anything, I suppose. He wants you for his court, not M-gan’s.”
Dekani blinked, and was, for a moment, startled out of her worry. “Wants me for what? What is a court?”
Ti-rill blinked, and turned away slightly. “W-well, it’s before mate. Y-you can only have one court-”
“Oh,” Dekani interrupted. “Like wolves.”
Ti-rill nodded, relaxing. “Yes, like wolves. Perhaps you should ask Nakomii to hunt for M-gan.”
Dekani’s mouth tightened. “Or perhaps I should go myself. M-gan talks to me, Ti-rill. Nakomii doesn’t, now.” Her voice was bitter, but she didn’t notice her own feelings, at the moment.
She had been feeling that way for some time, now. And just as with the stares, she was starting to ignore it.
Ti-rill sighed, and shrugged. “Whatever you do, Dekani, don’t cross the Dao.”
Dekani shook her head. So what if she crossed Uma? She was worried about M-gan right now, not Uma! She could care less about Uma, but not by much. If only she hadn’t been so… so unthinking! Else M-gan would not have left and stayed gone! She could have told him about the strange feeling she had started to have. She might have noticed it before! But no, she ignored it because that was easier!
Growling, Dekani looked around again, only to pause. Nakomii was back then. Maybe she would ask his help… She hadn’t hunted since they had joined the draconians, she may not be as good as she had been.
She started towards Nakomii, determined now. Only for a hand to grab hold of her shoulder.
Dekani was spun around, and she stumbled a bit before looking up at Uma.
“Come, we have to talk.”
Dekani opened her mouth to say something, but winced. Uma had changed her grip and was now digging her nails into Dekani’s shoulder; the one that had been mangled. And it hurt! She didn’t have a chance to object as she was dragged out of the clearing. Then, once they were a distance away, Uma spun Dekani around again, and shook her.
“Now, you are going to listen to me. I am Dao, I am leader. Every one listens to me, and does as I say. They do not stand and glare, they run when I tell them to run. They do what I tell them to do. Why you do not, I don’t know, but it will stop, now!” Uma’s face was contorted with fury, eyes blazing. Dekani looked for a moment, silent, before snarling and bringing her free hand across Uma’s face.
Dekani did not scratch Uma; she had figured out that something about her nails was like snake poison, and she didn’t not want to poison Uma… much. But she was angry. So instead of scratching Uma, she slapped her.
“You cannot tell me what to do, Uma! Yes, you tell the others what to do, and sirk, you’re killing them! Why did you never think to fight back? When have you planned ways for your people to go undetected? Never! Only once I arrived with my plan, which you seem unhappy about, does anyone come forward with ideas! Ti-rill, he is a good maker! Nym says that he should have been allowed long ago to work at his talent, but he wasn’t! And it’s your fault!”
Dekani stopped, and glared. Uma glared back, teeth bared. Dekani continued, her voice quieter, less harsh.
“I am a chosen of Dekalagh. To the dragons, that would mean I am a leader in my own right. I do not want to be Dao. I want only to learn about the Gods from Nym and have my children. Which I will. If I can ever find M-gan and if he’s alive, that is.” Dekani rolled her eyes, ignoring the sudden shocked look on Uma’s face. “If it comes to it, I want to take charge of all young ones who are colored like me, and, for a time, like Ano-k.” Dekani met Uma’s eyes. “I don’t want to fight now, because that would be pointless. I have to hunt for M-gan, and you have to lead.”
“We are not dragons.” Uma’s head was spinning. Who had thought that Dekani knew this much, let alone had learned what she had! “Just because the dragons allow their leaders to have their feet hit from beneath them, doesn’t mean I will let it be so!”
“You haven’t been listening, have you? I. Don’t. Want. To. Be. Dao! I want. To be. An aslee. Of Dekalagh. Why is that so hard to understand?” Dekani breathed, watching Uma. Uma, for her part, was mostly silent, obviously thinking. Finally, Uma seemed to relax. Dekani did relax, shoulders leaving her ears. And she had only hit Uma once… thank goodness it seemed to be over.
“I will… think on what you say, Dekani. Perhaps… perhaps I will listen, this once.” Uma looked at Dekani again, and left. Dekani remained still, before her eyes widened.
“I’d best catch Nakomii before he disappears again!”
---
M-gan was surprised to find himself still alive. In fact, he felt slightly better then before. Thirsty though, very thirsty.
He looked around for the beast, and didn’t see it. His legs weren’t working properly- one was crooked and obviously broken, while the other just hurt- so he was forced to drag himself to the water.
The mud nearly sucked him down, and M-gan suffered a moment of panic. But then he calmed; if he was to die, then he would die. Dying in water would be faster then by starvation, thirst, or loss of too much blood.
Lapping up the water, M-gan drank his fill, keeping an eye out for the rik the entire time. Then, thirst quenched, he struggled away from the pond. He was gasping for breath, and looked around warily. Hunters and scavengers would be drawn to the scent of his blood, he knew that as well as he knew his own name.
His body was racked with shudders, and it was getting harder to move his fingers. Shaking his head, M-gan forced the thistle down from his head, and concentrated. If he was to live, and he very much doubted that he would, he would have to get something to eat. And somehow fix his leg; else he would never walk again.
Well, leg first then.
Bending hurt, but M-gan did it anyway. He gripped his leg above and below the break, breath coming quick and shallow. Grinding his back teeth together, he quickly set his leg the way he thought he should. At least it wasn’t so crooked now, he thought; sweat on his brow and at his temples. At least I should be able to walk.
He bit his lip, and didn’t even notice when his teeth cut through, fangs meeting. New blood mingled with old blood, and he didn’t notice.
He only noticed the rik returning to the clearing, and then he nearly wept.
The rik looked over at M-gan several times, but didn’t move to trample him again. M-gan moved one hand, and the rik lifted its head and snorted.
If he moved, the rik would kill him, M-gan knew. If he didn’t move, he would die.
M-gan stared at the rik, and the rik stared back.
---
Dekani hurried towards Nakomii, who was standing at the edge of the occupied clearing. He looked over at her; a pale figure in a crowd of dark-skinned, dark-haired draconians. At least they had stopped clearing a path for her.
“Nakomii!” Dekani ran the last few steps; Nakomii’s green eyes a welcome sight. “M-gan is missing! We must find him.”
Nakomii lifted his head and sighed. He had known this would happen, those two males hovering around his little one… Still, at least he knew which one was which, though he didn’t really like it.
“How long, little one? And can it wait a little while? I have to get Nym and show her this.” Nakomii moved his wing, and Dekani looked. She felt if she didn’t, she would go for Nakomii’s neck. With her teeth.
It was another dragon. Dekani tilted her head, and blinked. It… he, was old and gray. Like Isss-olde, then.
“Hello.” Dekani turned back to Nakomii and growled. “No, Nakomii, it cannot wait! He’s gone alone! Males here never go alone! He could be hurt or…” She cut herself off with a shake of her head.
Nakomii sighed, and shook his head back. “He’ll live. I’m going to get Nym. Stay here.”
Dekani watched as Nakomii walked off, keeping to the edges of the crowd. She wanted… oh, how she wanted to make him hurt!
“He doesn’t understand, does he?” The dry, quiet voice belonged to the dragon. Dekani turned, and snarled. “No, I suppose he doesn’t want to.” The dragon looked up, after Nakomii.
“Who are you, anyway? And…”
“Why does Nakomii trust me with the location of the draconians?” The dragon chuckled. “Well, because I am Rashia, and I am too old now. I have to right a wrong I did a long time ago before I can rest, and I am going to do that now.”
Dekani sighed. “And what does that matter to me?”
“Because you are a tool of the Gods, just as I now am.” Dekani, startled, jumped and looked up at Rashia. She remembered…
“Rashia… I remember something about a game… What does that mean, and can it help?” She had to know, just as much as she had to go find M-gan. It wasn’t like Gy-ren was talking to her since yesterday. But still, this might involve her people, and…
“The messages of the Gods are complex, child. It might, it might not. Ah, Nakomii and Nym. Goodness, is that what I think it is in her scent?”
Dekani nodded. “Yes, she’s carrying. If either of them asks, tell them I’ve gone to look for M-gan, all right?”
Rashia spread his wings, and Dekani stopped lest she walk right through one. “You should take someone with you, young one, in case of trouble. You may have lived here in the storm pass for your entire life, but it is dangerous still.”
Dekani looked up at Rashia’s eyes, and realized that he was blind. Else he would have been looking at her. His advice was sound though, and she nodded. “All right, I will.”
Dekani walked back through the crowd to get Ti-rill.
---
Rashia heard the child leave, and waited for Nakomii and Nym to reach him. His memory hadn’t been faulty then; draconian children were just as dragon children were. Once you could no longer see, the differences were only slight.
But not the difference in Nym’s scent; that was a large change.
“Nym, child, you are carrying?”
“Tora Rashia… yes… how did you know?”
Rashia chuckled. “I just knew. When you get as old as I am, you will know too.”
Rashia knew he was talking to the two dragons, but his mind was elsewhere. With the child he had spoken to. He prayed she would do well, that the Gods did not plan on her death. He could see the Shadow Walker, lurking, waiting for whatever death would call it to action.
Almost unnoticeably, he shivered.
He prayed it was not the child Dekani. He prayed to the Mother and to the Father that her life would be a long one… she would help stop this foolish war, take what he knew and use it to the best of her ability.
But, he feared, it might be her. It just might.
---
Fever had set in early that morning. M-gan’s head lolled on his shoulders, tongue swollen in his mouth. His wounds were crusted with blood and dirt. The rik had yet to leave the pond and clearing around it. To M-gan’s mind, it was the faceless evil, waiting for his death so it could steal what remained of his strength.
And when he did not see the rik, when his eyes were in a different direction, he almost thought he saw Dekani. Who else could it be; pale as snow and missing an arm? But she was different. Her hair was the color of the sky; only it was so pale, just about white. And her eyes! They were the color of orange flower petals, but they were also pale, just like her hair. It was Dekani but it wasn’t Dekani. She was right but she was wrong too!
M-gan’s breath hitched, and exploded in a sob. The rik ran a few steps, then stopped, snorting.
Because of the rik, no hunters or scavengers had arrived to feast on M-gan. But because of the rik, M-gan was dying.
---
Dekani followed her nose, and Ti-rill followed Dekani.
Dekani had been wrong. She was still a good hunter, as good as ever. She and Ti-rill had been following M-gan’s scent, faint though it was. They were making faster time then he, because they weren’t looking for anything else. The only thing that was slowing them down was the course he had taken; avoiding water. Dekani herself thought this was a stupid thing to do, but held her comments to herself.
Soon enough she would be able to tell M-gan himself, not Ti-rill.
“D-Dekani… what’s that smell?”
So, Ti-rill finally smelled what Dekani had smelled for the past half day. He probably hadn’t even noticed when she had quickened the pace, going after the blood instead of any other scents.
“That’s M-gan’s blood. Come on, let’s hurry. But don’t run. Whatever hurt him might still be there.”
“What?”
Dekani didn’t answer, just quickened her pace. Ti-rill stopped, and then sighed. He should have suggested his brother, Ki-rill. At least he would have known what to do during a hunt like this.
Dekani was unaware of Ti-rill’s thoughts, and even if she had known them she wouldn’t have cared. She was remembering other times she had smelt blood like this… the slaughters of draconians, with a dragon culprit. And how she had eaten of the dead.
Her lips trembled a moment, before she stopped and held up her hand. Ti-rill crept up next to her, and looked where she was looking.
It was a prey animal, they could tell that much, but it was too big for any number of draconians to take down. And, by a tree, was M-gan.
Dekani’s nostrils flared as she took several deep breaths. Then she turned to Ti-rill.
“Go back and get Nym and Nakomii. Whatever it is, it can ki- hurt a draconian. I doubt it can do the same to a dragon. Nym is a healer, tell her that M-gan is hurt, and you can smell his blood a distance away. Hurry!”
Ti-rill nodded, and, on hands and feet, ran as quietly as possible.
Oddly enough, the rik did not hear Ti-rill, even though M-gan had been quieter. Dekani didn’t know any of this, and just thought the beast stupid.
Edging around the clearing, Dekani kept one eye on the blurry form of the rik, and the other on M-gan. She was angry, afraid, and relieved that she had found him. Probably alive, since his head was moving. She would kill him once they got him away from this oversize deer, but at least he was alive. She had been worried.
Dekani didn’t say anything as she edged as close to M-gan as she dared. The scent of blood was overpowering, but, despite not eating for two days, she did not feel hunger. Instead, she felt sick. This was M-gan! She knew him, had spoken to him, and had accepted the prey he brought.
Now at last she understood. Understood why he had brought it. But if he died… oh, she didn’t want to think about it.
Dekani didn’t think about it after that, instead looking up at the rik, waiting for it to do something that would give her cause to rip its nose from its face.
She had never hated anything before, not even the dragons, but now she did.
And she hated the rik.
