Chapter Twenty
Ti-rill hurried as fast as he dared, taking a path that led straight to the draconians, and thus, the two dragons he was in need of.
Ano-k help him, he was afraid. Afraid of the animal, afraid of being away from his clan, afraid of what would happen if he disturbed Nym. But most of all, he was afraid for M-gan. The two were in the same clan; the same wander-group, so Ti-rill knew M-gan almost as well as he knew his brother, Ki-rill.
Ti-rill skidded down a hill, stumbling and rolling into a patch of thorns. Cringing, he continued to run. His breath was coming hard now, heart thudding in his chest, but still he continued.
He burst into the clearing rather suddenly and, surprised by the abrupt change from woods to people, he yelped. Eyes wide, he looked around, before sighting the dragons. Ignoring the odd looks he was getting, he ran over to them. Once he’d reached the dragons, however, he found himself needing to stop and catch his breath.
“N-Nym! N-N-Nakomii… Dekani’s found M-gan and he’s hurt! She says you have to come! Quickly!”
Ti-rill looked up at the dragons, eyes wide. Nym was already moving, tail snapping from side to side. Nakomii hesitated, then shrugged and followed.
“Ti-rill, stay here. I’ll find Dekani.” Nakomii didn’t seem as concerned as he should have been, Ti-rill worried.
“You have to hurry!”
Nym turned her head over her shoulder and snarled at Nakomii, who winced and hurried his pace.
---
Nakomii was far from happy. He cared nothing for this M-gan who watched his little one, and now, his little one had gone off and was possibly in danger!
Growling as he walked, Nakomii glared at Nym’s tail-tip, which twitched back and forth.
“Nakomii, stop growling. Dekani is a court. M-gan’s court, to be exact. Would you prefer Gy-ren?” Nym looked over her shoulder, taking the moment to address her mate.
Nakomii shook his head, sneering. “Hardly. Ti-rill, maybe. He’s intelligent.”
“So is M-gan.” Nym went back to following the scent trail, but she stopped and stiffened after only a few steps. “Do you smell that blood?”
Nakomii lifted his head and sniffed the air. “Yes. Let’s go.”
Nakomii started to run, leaving Nym behind.
He might not care for M-gan, but against Gy-ren… Nakomii snarled, jumping into the air. Heedless of the branches that clawed at his wings, he fought his way into the air. It had been too long since he’d last flown. And what if the blood was Dekani’s?
Flying over the treetops, Nakomii fell silent at the sight of the rik. Claws digging into his palms, he flared his wings before clawing for altitude.
He was alone. There was a rik. Nym was going to appear, grounded by egg, and Dekani was somewhere. He was alone.
Pulling his wings to his sides, Nakomii dropped like a rock. He kept his eyes on the rik, angling his head to change the direction he was falling in.
Just feet away from the rik’s back, Nakomii spread his wings. His hindquarters dropped under him, muscles burning as his feet slammed into the rik’s neck.
The rik, predictably, went down onto the ground, neck broken.
And over to one side of the river clearing, a chosen of Dekalagh stood up, and called out.
“Nakomii!”
---
M-gan drifted in a sea of darkness. Where… was he? Ano-k, his head hurt! And his sides and legs and…
Eyes opening, M-gan gasped for breath and groaned. His insides… Trembling lips parted; “Scrath!”
“M-gan!” Was that… Dekani? M-gan turned his head, finding it hard to concentrate on any one thing at the moment. It was, if the white blur was anything to go by.
“Dekani?” Why was his voice so rough? Oh, wait, he remembered now. He’d been attacked, struggled just to survive… was he dead now, or was this somehow life?
“Thank Dekalagh you’re alive. Nym! M-gan’s awake! He’s alive!” The Dekani-blur moved and shifted, and M-gan groaned. The shouting was drilling into his head.
A larger blur, this one in the colors of Ano-k, moved towards him. Claws tilted his head, and an unseen tongue made a clicking noise.
“Well, you’re healing well. Care to tell me why you went after a rik on your own?”
M-gan groaned again, and closed his eyes. There was a pounding in his head, at the back of his eyes.
It might have been two heartbeats, it might have been eternity, but something warm and wet was held to his lips. Opening his eyes, M-gan eyed the meat that was held to him, and then looked to Dekani. He opened his mouth to object to being fed, only for her to just about choke him.
Swallowing the meat whole, he turned his face away from the next morsel. “I don’t think… you know quite… what you’re doing, Dekani.” He was gasping again, M-gan noted. And his sides were starting to burn.
“Of course I know what I’m doing. Two reasons.” Dekani sounded smug, which was new to M-gan. He couldn’t remember ever hearing her sounding smug. “I am giving you food, because Nym says you are not to move. And…” she paused, and he felt her lean forward and breathe on his ear, “I accept you, M-gan.”
M-gan stiffened, before turning his head. Despite the fact that it made every muscle in his body scream in protest, he lifted his head and pressed his lips to Dekani’s. Dekani stiffened, before pulling away. M-gan relaxed, head thumping into the ground.
“What was that?”
M-gan smiled. “A kiss.”
“Oh. All right. If you eat, then we shall do that again.”
M-gan ate the meat, but his mind was turned to something far sweeter.
Dekani.
---
Dekani was smiling. For once, she did not look like she was going to attack anyone, she was not trying to smile, she just was. Her lips were tingling, and every hair on her head seemed to have a life of its own.
Her M-gan. That’s what he had said. He had also said that she was his, which suited her just fine. Then, of course, he’d went back to that sleep and Nym had chased her out… Dekani frowned.
There was noise, and Dekani growled, mood shifting quickly. M-gan needed sleep! And he would not get any sleep if they were loud.
Dekani stalked out of the branch-pile Nym had made and deemed all right, for now, and headed towards the dragons. Of course it would be the dragons, she thought, flexing her hand. No matter that the group was focused, talking and yelling, she interrupted.
“What is it?”
Everyone; Nym, Nakomii, Rashia, Uma, Isss-olde, Aridith and Nidgam, looked up. Everyone but Uma turned away to look at Uma. Uma watched Dekani, face unreadable. Dekani looked at Uma, meeting Uma in the eye.
“Well?”
Her voice was getting harsher. She wanted to know, needed to know.
Finally, Uma spoke. “It’s a group of dragons.” She said. “They’re coming here.”
