SL: So this was a prompt Ray thought up. Below is a shorter version of the prompt but, warning; if you don't like seeing our babies getting hurt, look away.
While doing a perimeter check, Soren comes across a rogue western dragon, an old clan member of Pyrrah's. Pyrrah senses something's wrong and follows her instincts to find him.
RK: I wrote most of this one. Though, towards the end, I was getting a little bit stuck, and I had to ask Story to help me out with finishing it up. ^^;
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The last few weeks' patrols were not yielding good results. There were occasional reports of traveling thieves camping and scouting out the castle entrances. This was obviously alarming news to the kingdom, so King Ezran declared the number of patrols to be doubled. Soren understood that they were necessary precautions, but it wasn't easy on him or his men. Not only was this taking more time away from Soren spending time with his wife, it was also making him increasingly exhausted.
His patrol covered the entire east side outside the castletown wall, and his legs were already starting to get sore. He pushed on with a sigh, wiping a bit of sweat from his brow. The guard was about to continue on the patrol route until he heard a low, rumbling noise further up the way. With a confused look, he slowly made his way closer to the sound, a hand on the hilt of his sword.
Pushing past some thick foliage, he finally saw the source of the noise, but by the time he registered what it was, it was too late.
It lashed out and Soren was launched backwards. He hit the trunk of a nearby tree and fell to the ground gasping, the wind knocked straight out of him. He looked up, seeing a dark-scaled sun dragon towering above.
It's sage-green eyes glistened with sadistic delight. "Oh how I've waited for this," it growled.
Managing to get his voice back, Soren shouted up at the dragon. "W-waited for what?! Who are you?!"
With an amused chuff, the dragon smirked, revealing his sharp fangs. "You wouldn't know me, you pathetic whelp of a creature...but I'm sure the dragoness who calls you her 'mate'...does." Soren glared at male dragon towering over him. This must've been an ex-clan member of hers or a previous suitor.
Soren got to his feet and drew his dragonblade, taking a stance. "Okay, I don't know what your relation to Pyrrah is, but if you're here to claim her, you can't! She's mine, and I've already mated with her!" Despite his determined glare, he couldn't stop the bit of blush flushing his cheeks. He could have worded that a bit more subtly.
With a hiss, the dragon quickly spun around, whipping his tail. Soren's sword was knocked away, and he winced as he gingerly touched his face. He looked down at his fingers to see blood covering them. A big scratch marked his left cheek where the dragon's tail spines had grazed.
The dragon snarled. "She was going to be mine! But you, a pathetic human, took her from me! She was the strongest female in the clan, and because she decided to mate with...with a human, we lost the most precious of our female bloodline!"
"It's been over a year!" Soren held his ground. "She left your clan! Now leave her be!"
"Perhaps I could...but if, say, her current 'mate' were found dead in the woods by a mysterious circumstance, she'd be ready for the taking by a proper male." The dragon examined his talons for a moment before charging forward to strike.
~#~
Pyrrah was picking up some food in the Katolis market for when Soren finished his patrol. They planned on having lunch together, talking over his morning shift while enjoying some sandwiches, but she refused to have any more of the 'bread sandwiches' he insisted on making. The town square was busy with citizens bustling about, getting food of their own and purchasing other household supplies. While she did get a few looks, no one really cared that there was a hybrid dragoness among them.
But after hearing a familiar sound in the distance, all of her spines suddenly stood on end. "That...That can't be...no...how...why would he be-"
Eyes widening, she realized the sound came from the east, and the faint smell being carried on the wind only confirmed her fear.
"No-no-no-no!"
Wasting no time, she spoke the transformation spell and took on her dragon form. Surrounding townsfolk and merchants all gasped and shouted, shocked by the dragoness's inconsiderate behavior as she crowded the street and knocked over stands with her large body. She'd help fix everything later, but now, she needed to hurry. She pushed off the ground and quickly flew eastward.
"No-no-no I'm coming Soren. Please, please be okay."
~#~
Trying to escape, Soren stumbled through the trees, clutching his bleeding side. He could maneuver through the trees quicker than his pursuer, but he was starting to get light-headed and struggled to find his way.
When his blurred vision managed to see a path, he pushed past the leaves and made it to the open, dirt road. At least he could find his way from here, find someone to help.
But when the sun was blotted out from behind him, he gulped, looking over his shoulder. The big, male dragon snickered and slashed at him again with his claws. Unable to avoid the massive claw, the guard was caught across the chest and torso by the sharp talons. He fell to his knees before finally collapsing onto his stomach. So this is how he was going to die, killed by a rogue dragon, all alone at the prime of his life. Truly, an awful way to go out, at least by his standards.
However, before the dragon could deal the final, crushing blow, two big claws stepped over him, framing his body underneath. He recognized those colors, that familiar black and crimson.
"P-Pyrrah?" he whispered hoarsely.
The dragoness was unable to hear him, her focus on the male who had dared to harm her mate. "GOYLANG!"
Snarling, the dragon flicked his tail. "Yes Pyrrah, it's me. How pathetic that you decided to choose such a weak, feeble creature for a mate. It only took a few swipes of my claws to send him scurrying like a mouse."
"You dare come into Katolis, and harm my mate! I ought to inform the Dragon King of this treachery! This betrayal! You dare harm a claimed brother of the King?!"
"Well..." the male huffed, inspecting the blood on his claws, "You weren't supposed to show up. This was supposed to be...how should I put it? An unfortunate accident? Perhaps a Banther would've been put to blame."
Feeling something touching her foot, Pyrrah looked down for a moment. Despite his weak, wounded state, Soren reached out his hand to hold one of her talons. She felt his hand grip her toe tightly before it loosened, falling limp. Frowning, she leaned her neck down and looked between her forelegs.
Soren looked up a little with a tired gaze, his breathing heavy and with a tiny purr, she gently licked his cheek in a comforting manner.
However, with her neck lowered and exposed for that brief moment, Goylang took the opportunity to strike. He lunged towards her neck, jaws wide and ready to rip into her flesh.
Pyrrah's defensive instincts kicked in and immediately, she snapped at the male's exposed throat. The dark-scaled dragon screeched into the sky, his mouth spewing smoke. The dragoness's fangs dug in deep, and she clamped her jaw down hard before whipping her head back and taking a chunk of his flesh with her.
With a roar of agony, blood began pouring from the male dragon's wound. Only barely did the dragoness miss his jugular and arteries in a killer move. The male backed away, clutching one claw to his neck while he roared, shrieked, and cursed at the female.
Pyrrah's maw was blood-soaked, her sharp teeth baring to show she wasn't afraid to strike again as she spat out the dragon's flesh. "LEAVE GOYLANG! I will kill you if I must!" She didn't dare step forward though, determined to protect her wounded mate beneath her.
With a strangled hiss of defeat, the dragon turned tail and fled, taking off into the sky.
Once Pyrrah finally lost his scent, she slowly stepped back, looking over the guard under her. He looked awful: bruised, bleeding, and burned. He panted, trying to push himself up before collapsing back down into the dirt. "P-Pyr-" he began, but he couldn't manage to finish.
Immediately, Pyrrah transformed back into a hybrid, knelt by his side, and turned him over to better assess the damage. With a gasp, her eyes scanned over the claw marks that tore through his uniform. Basically, anything that wasn't armor was ripped and tattered. Blood soaked into the fabric of his clothes, and although the wounds weren't too deep, there were many of them.
Tears in her eyes, Pyrrah gently caressed her husband's face. "I-I'm so sorry...I-If I was here sooner-"
"No..."
Pyrrah backed away a little, watching Soren lift his head up despite his several hisses of pain. "Pyrrah...you...you saved me. Thank you...." He placed a feather light kiss to her lips, but he quickly coiled back and clutched his side with a weak cry.
"Okay, take it easy. I-I need to take a look at you." Pyrrah removed the cape from his pauldrons and slowly took what was left of his armor off with it. She tried to be as gentle as possible, so as to not cause him any more pain than necessary. But the wounds weren't under the armour, they were under everything else. "Take a deep breath, alright? This is going to sting a little."
Doing as he was told, Soren sighed deeply and clutched his crumpled cape in his fist. He didn't understand exactly why this would hurt. It's not like she was cleaning it yet. But when she began to peel away the tattered uniform that was stuck to his wounds, he cried out.
The dragoness winced, hating the sound. However, she continued to slowly remove his damaged layers of clothing one by one. The uniform was so damaged, it was obvious he'd need a new one. There was no repairing it at this point. Once he was bare-chested, all of his upper clothing removed, she could better assess his wounds. The ones that were most alarming were the large slash marks raking across his torso all the way from his chest to hip.
Taking the blood stained clothes, she pressed them into the largest scratch. "Oh, Soren..." she whispered, but it was clear he hadn't heard her. His face was pale and his head lolled from side to side. She looked over him for a bit, then swallowed, still pressing down with his shirt. "Soren...this is going to hurt...but...it will help you."
He didn't reply, pardon a weak groan. Taking it as permission, Pyrrah held out her hand and concentrated on her arcanum. She'd done this many times before to herself when wounded, but to do it to another, and to a human no less, she had no idea what would happen. But she had to try.
After a few seconds, her talons began to glow a hot amber colour. It caused her discomfort, but she pushed it aside, knowing Soren would suffer far more. Once it was hot enough, she pinched his skin together with her other hand and placed her claw against his flesh.
Blood loss or not, he still screamed out in agony, eyes wide in visible shock. Pyrrah felt tears in her eyes as she worked, pinning him down with her body and continuing her task.
She managed to finish sealing the scratch marks, slowly pulling her searing talon away from his flesh. The smell was awful, but it would dissipate soon. At least, she hoped it would. Reaching down, she gently brushed her thumb against his cheek to wipe away the tears she'd caused. "I'm so sorry...but we're finished now."
He just lied there, panting heavily while a few weak whimpers slipped out. It took several minutes before he finally opened his eyes, shakily placing his hand over hers. "Th-that...was the worst thing...I've ever experienced..."
Pyrrah helped him slowly sit up, glancing down at the cauterized wounds. "I-I'm sorry. When I was attacked by another dragon, I would do this to myself sometimes. But...I think having fireproof scales makes it a little less painful for me...I really am sorry...The rest are minor enough to be taken care of at the castle."
Slightly shaking his head, he softly kissed her palm. "N-No, I understand...I would've bled out otherwise." The guard attempted to stand, but he only hissed, falling to his knees. "Could you...take me back?"
"Of course you moron. I wouldn't expect you to take another step."
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SL: Sooo...you get some love in the first and some...run and hide in the second.
RK: Kalm...then PANIK!