I Have a Dragon

Calico Captive - 11

Fishlegs: "You don't go TOWARDS the weird scary sound!"
Astrid: "Yea, we do! We always do." ~ Riders of Berk, S1-E17

A few hours later, Rayne understood the desperate look in the man's eyes. It had not been more than a few minutes since she woke when the Dunshau had come, and taken him away. His terrified screams still echoed in her ears.

Upon returning, the creature had proceeded to show Rayne the reason it was so feared and hated. After feeding, it checked the bindings on its prisoners, then stalked deeper into the cave to sleep off the day.

"Monster..." Rayne hissed through gritted teeth. She struggled against the webbing a bit, but couldn't do much. She felt drained and exhausted. Her mind returned to Calico, as it had hundreds of times, drawing strength from the fact her little dragon was quite capable of taking care of herself.

*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*

Meanwhile, Calico was fretting over Rayne as well. Only, her worry was much more. She had failed to protect her sister, a crime she didn't think she would ever forgive herself for.

'Where is she?'

Calico huffed angrily. She shot a blue blast into the ground in frustration, being careful not to light anything on fire. She had been flying over the island for hours, searching. She had tried tracking Rayne by scent from where she'd last been, but the sky couldn't hold smells. She wasn't a tracker dragon. Finally, in utter disgust and sadness, she had returned to where they had slept, and curled up on the hay, sulking. 

There had been no sign of the creature that had stolen her rider. It had vanished into thin air, as had Rayne. Calico shuddered, remembering the creature's smell. She had smelled it's stench on the sinister claw marks on the door of the great hall. She just hadn't realized what a threat the beast posed. She wasn't even sure if it was a dragon.

'Death, blood, and disease, all rolled into one.'

She reached out, dragging her saddle over to herself. The saddlebags were still attached. She gently nuzzled it, then laid her head on the leather with a contented look.

'It smells like Rayne...'

After a few minutes of the quiet rest, she was ready to go again. Rising, she arched her back in a stretch. She started out, then paused. Turning back around, she gingerly bit into the saddle, feeling her teeth sink into the soft leather. A twinge of guilt flashed through her. Rayne had told her multiple times not to bite the saddle. Any other time, she would have loved the chance to chew on the leather, but she didn't feel like it now. Satisfied with her grip, she flipped the saddle partly onto her back to ease the weight and took to the skies.

Her slender wings quivered with the airflow as she adjusted herself to flying again. Everytime she flew without Rayne, she had to get used to the lack of her Rider's weight on her back. It felt different, and weird.

Her sharp, worried eyes scanned the island below. She had searched inland. She would do the coastline, now. She tipped her wings to carry her over to the waves that rushed up on the shore. With a few powerful strokes, she gained some height and began searching in earnest. She was going to find Rayne, if it took her the rest of her life!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Rayne could tell the passing days by the faint light that showed at the opening of the cave she was in. Also from the light, she realized she wasn't near the outside; she was tucked deep within the cave, far enough that no wind stirred the cold, heavy air. It had been especially cold for the last two days. 

The Dunshau had been feeding off her more. With the amount of blood loss, she found herself sleeping most of the time. When she was awake, all she could do was shiver and dread the beast's next visit.