Wings of Fire: Dragons, Steel, and Pom-Poms

XII - For Science!

Nonetheless, he still got a whole collection of different smells from the environment around him, so much so that it actually took him aback. Some of the smells were familiar: The smell of trees, grass, and other vegetation. As well as that of sea spray, the ocean, and of the beach (That at least meant that he was still near the sea). But among those smells, there were many more that were entirely unfamiliar to him, and others that he didn't even begin to recognize or know how to describe at all. Corroborating with many new sounds his slowly returning ears were picking up that he had never heard before.

For starters, the most apparent scent he could detect was this incredibly strong... burning smell? Argonaut wasn't really sure. It sort of smelled like smoke, but not really. It wasn't exactly repulsive, but it was perhaps the definition of pungent. There was an almost tang to it that made his nose feel weird. He could also smell a lot of dirt, the kind that had been recently turned over and moved around. There was a myriad of odors that he could hardly begin to place, as they were so new to him. However, through that, he picked up a scent that he did somewhat recognize. It was a smell that he had encountered before, during a few of his patrols. It wasn't very strong, had a sort of salty oily-ness to it, and was only really apparent if you looked for it. Though it was unmistakable once you recognized it.

Scavengers?

He could smell scavengers nearby. Why would that be? He of course knew his patrol mission took them near a scavenger den, but why would he still be near scavengers? He'd been captured! Why would MudWings or SkyWings chain him up near a scavenger den?

I... have been captured by enemy dragons... right?

The noises he was hearing around him didn't sound much like a dragon encampment. Through the ringing, Argonaut could hear high-pitched whirring noises, the dull thunks of things behind shoved into soil and of soil being moved about. And, most strangely of all, an alien rumbling and growling noise that maintained a constant pitch and frequency for far longer than a dragon or other large animal should be able to maintain, by his reckoning. The rumbling noise was sometimes accompanied by the sound of something heavy being rolled across dirt, and a sort of clanking clattering noise at others. The only somewhat natural sounds that he could currently hear were the cries of seagulls, and the sound of a bunch of somethings muttering to one another.

A sharp barking sound, followed by a volume and frequency decrease to the muttering sounds, broke him from his internal musings. Bracing himself, Argonaut slowly cracked one eye open, groaning and wincing again at the oppressive brightness and the redoubled pain in his head.

Slowly- too slowly- his eye adjusted to the mid-afternoon sunlight, and he realized he couldn't make anything out, as he was seeing triple-vision and everything was blurry.

He was feeling pretty woozy, come to think of it.

After a little while longer, though, his vision began to refocus, and the first thing his gaze centered on were a pair of small, wide-set hazel colored eyes similar to his own (sans the coloration) staring right back at him.

Argonaut started, slightly pulling his talons against their restraints. There were scavengers! Glancing around, he could see more scavengers in one place than he'd seen in his entire life! The small creatures surrounded him in a wide circle, all of them staring at him.

These scavengers look strange. First of all, they were all the wrong color. All the scavengers he'd ever seen, or indeed any dragon had ever seen, had light-brown skin, and had dark brown fur patches. They were also known for always wearing weird fur or fabric coverings. These scavengers, on the other talon, had skin that generally looked more like exposed wood in color, and all had peculiar green tortoise shell-looking things on top of their heads that obscured what fur they did have. They also had coverings that- Argonaut realized- were all identical to one another. They were all light brownish-green in color, and made from a material that he did not recognize.